


P.S. I (still) love you.

by piercifers



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: High School AU, M/M, SO IT WORKS, also (mortal) human au, and like marcus and lucifer are pros at fake dating, bc i love the movie and the books too much not to, bc of course he is, but i did change some things, i didn't add all the characters that appear bc i'm lazy, jock!marcus, like the fact that lucifer gets out of the house for something other than school, lucifer's family is shitty but what's new, ohhhh ohhhh, or the fact that he can drive, platonic deckerstar, tatbilb au, theater kid!lucifer, we all knew i was gonna get here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-07-12 20:09:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 26,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16002398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/piercifers/pseuds/piercifers
Summary: After Amenadiel very kindly exposes Lucifer's crush on Chloe, Lucifer has to figure a way out to make everything go back to normal. He finds a way and said way just so happens to involve Marcus Pierce, captain of the school's football team and certified asshole. Will everything go smoothly or will Lucifer get more than he bargained for?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I had to get here at some point! I love To All The Boys I've Loved Before (both the books and the movie) waaay too much not to get here!!! Plus, Lucifer and Marcus are pros at fake dating (and it's canon) so this works perfectly!
> 
> Originally this was gonna be short and I was gonna post it all when I was done but 13k words later and almost a month later and here I am. Truth be told, I am only posting it now bc I made a draft when I started it which had the description and the tags so I wouldn't forget them and my draft was getting close to getting deleted. 
> 
> Anyway, I decided to divide it in multiple parts and I'm gonna post one part each week, either on friday or on saturday.

Lucifer sat on the bed, placing a teal blue box in front of him.

The teal box was filled with what he considered his most prized possessions: five letters, a piece of paper and a bunch of polaroid pictures.

The pictures documented the last four years of his life and now that they came to a long-awaited end he felt the need to sit down and relive what could’ve been some of the most important moments of his life- even if he didn't realize that back then.

He opened the box and the first thing that he got his hands on was maybe the most significant object in that box out of all of them. It was a polaroid dated to September 15 and it was a picture of him and his boyfriend, the first picture they took together.

Looking back to that moment, he probably should’ve realized some things sooner, but if he did maybe the story wouldn’t have been worth telling.

It all began on the first day of senior year, nearly a year ago, when Lucifer was assigned to work on a history project with none other than Marcus Pierce.

Marcus was the captain of the school's football team and, according to Dan, a certified asshole. He also happened to be one of Lucifer's ex-crushes, but he was over him now, hence the use of the 'ex'.

Lucifer had a crush on Marcus when Marcus first moved to their school, sophomore year, but he got over him after the winter play that same year.

And he got over Marcus the same way he did with all of his crushes, or at least the ones so intense that they consumed him and didn't allow him to just shake them off: he wrote Marcus a love letter.

He didn't sent that love letter, he never did, but he wrote it on fancy expensive paper (the fancy expensive paper he bought solely for writing letters like that one) and he wrote it with the fountain pen that his dad bought him years ago for his birthday.

(His dad told him to use that fountain pen for important things and so Lucifer did, although his definition of important was very different from his dad's.)

He poured his heart out in that letter, saying everything he wouldn't ever dare say to Marcus' face.

Once he finished writing the letter, he put it in an envelope, sealed it, wrote down the sender and the (hypothetical) receiver, he even put a stamp on it and then he put it in the blue teal box that he used to hide his most prized possessions from his family.

And, just like that, as soon as Lucifer tucked the teal blue box safe and sound under his bed he was over Marcus.

So working with him on that project shouldn't have been hard. And it wasn't hard.

Leaving aside their usual banter, which could only be described as a combination of flirting and insults (which Lucifer enjoyed, not that he'd ever admit it), Marcus was wonderful to work with.

And Lucifer didn't say that because of his (long gone at that point, by the way) crush, no, not even a little bit. He said that because they both viewed the project the same way, aka a chore which they needed to get over with as soon as possible.

Marcus was also really smart and focused and just generally easy to work with, something surprising given his usual attitude towards Lucifer... and everyone else, really.

They met after Marcus' football practice and Lucifer's theatre rehearsals and they worked on the project for an hour every single day, both too focused on the task at hand to have any time for anything else- which meant a lot of silent moments, but the silence was comfortable and Lucifer quite enjoyed it.

On their way from school to the cafe nearby and on their way back they made small talk, Lucifer's idea, and it turns out that Lucifer loved complaining to Marcus and it seemed like Marcus felt the same way.

They kept up that routine for two weeks, almost finished with the project by the beginning of the third week of school- when all hell broke loose for Lucifer.

It was Monday morning when it happened. Lucifer was packing his bag and he reached under his bed for his teal blue box to put away the pictures he took in the past two weeks, but when he opened the box something was missing.

Five somethings were missing more exactly.

Lucifer stared blankly at the contents of the box as soon as he noticed what was missing, face livid and heart beating so fast and so hard it almost jumped out of his chest.

He stared and he stared for what seemed like ages before he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before opening them again, hoping that his eyes were just deceiving him and that nothing was really missing, but when he opened his eyes he was met with the same sight as before.

He stared at the box again, tears swelling in the corners of his eyes, but he blinked them away before he started crying. He then did what he originally meant to do, putting the box back under the bed afterwards, all while trying not to scream or cry or pass out (or all three, in that order).

He then took another deep breath, grabbed his bag and threw it over his shoulder and left his room, heading for the dining room (the only room he could find most of his siblings gathered in at the same time).

"Has anyone been in my room recently?" he called from the doorway once he was in the dining room, not even bothering to really enter the room. His interactions with his siblings were always dreadful so he always tried to be one step out of the room whenever he had to talk to them.

"Yeah, I did. I was looking for something." Amenadiel said nonchalantly, as if he could fool Lucifer that he had any plausible reason to enter Lucifer's room.

"Oh, and by the way, I found some letters laying around. Hope you don't mind I send them." he added before Lucifer could ask the big question and Lucifer forced a smile at his answer- the answer he was looking for but didn't want to hear.

"No, not at all. I was gonna send them myself anyway." Lucifer said and then he was out of the room and out of the house, before Amenadiel could even process what he said, let alone say anything back.

The ride to school was... a nightmare at the very least, but again so was that whole day and it wasn't even 8am yet. Lucifer sat in the back of the bus, as always, and he sank onto his seat, trying to make himself as small and unnoticeable as possible.

When he got to school things weren't any different. Instead of sitting in the front seat in class (as he always did) he aimed for a seat in the back of the class, preferably in a corner, but any place that would him less noticeable was good.

He avoided his friends (but especially Chloe) during breaks and lunch, choosing to spend his lunch break in the library, studying.

And everything worked out fine, as in Lucifer didn't cross paths with Chloe at all the whole day, but he didn't take into consideration the fact that he had to meet with Marcus, the receiver of another one of his letters, after school.

That realization hit him right as he was making his way to the football field and when it did he stopped in his tracks, mortified and already picturing how Marcus was gonna reject him brutally and mock him. And to make matters worse, he couldn't even just avoid Marcus, they still needed to finish that project together.

So he sighed and waited by the bleachers until Marcus finished practice, mentally preparing himself for what was gonna come.

Except that it never came. No rejection, no mocking, not even a mention of the letter.

All Marcus did as soon as he met with Lucifer was complain about his teammates were as if nothing ever happened. As if he didn't get a love letter from Lucifer.

That was about the only good thing that happened to Lucifer that day- and he was more than grateful for it-, but his luck didn't last for long because soon enough he spotted Chloe, letter in hand and heading straight for him.

So he did the only logical thing he could, he took Marcus' hand and he pulled him into a kiss.

Weirdly enough, Marcus didn't reject him in anyway and, even weirder, the fact that Marcus didn't push him away managed to calm some of Lucifer's nerves down, just enough for Lucifer to get lost into the kiss. Lucifer actually got so lost into the kiss that mere seconds later he forgot why they were kissing in the first place, and so he leaned closer, pulling Marcus slightly closer. Marcus put an arm around his waist at that, which delighted Lucifer, but his delight died down when Marcus parted their lips.

"She's gone." Marcus whispered in Lucifer's ear- a little breathless-, all while still holding Lucifer close, which made what he said almost completely irrelevant for Lucifer. Despite that Lucifer still nodded and took a step back, a little breathless himself and very much flustered.

It took Lucifer a few moments to collect himself, holding Marcus' hand the whole time, but his few moments of bliss ended as soon as he remembered the string of events that led to them kissing. In that moment he let go of Marcus' hand almost like it burned him, taking two more steps back as the events of the whole day played back in his head.

The anxiety he endured the whole day prior to that kiss returned at full force and Lucifer fled, Marcus trailing behind him until he eventually caught up, grabbing Lucifer's arm as he did so.

Lucifer stopped in his tracks when Marcus grabbed his arm, resembling a deer caught in the headlights when he turned to look at Marcus, expecting the worst, but getting nothing of the sorts, again.

"You ok?" Marcus asked, completely impassive and Lucifer had no idea what to make out of that.

"I'm sorry!" he blurted out and only added 'for kissing you' when Marcus raised his eyebrows.

"It's fine. You're a decent kisser." Marcus said with a shrug, which almost made Lucifer forget about the matter at hand.

"Was that a compliment?"

Almost.

“Actually it doesn't matter, "he said and he shook his head, deciding to focus on the matter at hand. “We need to talk…”

“About the letter.” Marcus finished for him, Lucifer nodding.

“I didn't say anything before because I figured you wouldn't wanna talk about it, but sure, if you think we need to talk we can talk about it.” Marcus said and saying he sounded disinterested was generous.

“I… I don't want to talk about it, but I have to. I have to tell you that what I said in that letter… it's- it's not true, at least… not anymore,” he started and he was a nervous wreck and he was sure it showed.

 “I… I wrote it a long time ago and you weren't even supposed to see it, but my brother went through my stuff and sent it.” he explained, his eyes on the ground as he walked, Marcus walking besides him.

“I figured out most of it.” Marcus said with a sigh.

“Really?”

Marcus nodded. “Yeah, it didn't seem like you. If you wanted to tell me something of the sorts you'd ask me out. Or call me or text me or sent me an email, but not sent me a damn love letter. So I assumed that if you did write it I wasn't meant to see it. That's why I didn't bring it up.”

“Oh…” Lucifer said, eyes wide. “That's… uhm… nice of you. Thanks.”

“I'm not that much of an asshole, despite what Espinoza says.” Marcus said, deadpan, and Lucifer forced a smile.

“But… about this letter thing, I still have a question.” Marcus said moments later and Lucifer nodded for him to continue. “Why would your brother sent it if you didn't want to anyone to see it?”

“Well, we didn't talk about it but I'm sure he would say he was helping me, but the reality is that he's a dick who couldn't care less about my well being.” Lucifer said and he crossed his arms over his chest with a huff.

Marcus nodded.

“I take it you don't want to go home?”

“No. I don't ever wanna go home, but unfortunately I have to.” Lucifer said, a cloud over his head all of sudden.

Marcus nodded again and then they walked in silence for a few minutes.

“Decker got one of those letters too, right?” Marcus asked, breaking the silence. When Lucifer nodded he continued: “Can I ask how many of those letters you wrote?”

“Five.”

“You had five crushes?” Marcus asked, baffled and that might've been the first time Lucifer heard any sort of emotion from Marcus.

“What's so shocking about that?” Lucifer asked with a glare.

“I'm surprised you had any crushes.” Marcus said, starting to explain before Lucifer could question him: “You're a player, everybody knows it. So everyone has crushes on you, not the other way around.”

“I'm not _that_ bad!” Lucifer commented, practically shooting daggers at Marcus with his eyes.

“That's not what everyone says.”

“Well, they're wrong!” he protested, looking away from Marcus. “Sort of, but I do have crushes. Too many, actually.” he added, looking down at his shoes now.

“Only five were significant tho, most of them are gone in a few days.” he explained when he noticed that Marcus was about to say something.

“Well then, I guess I should be honoured.” Marcus said and Lucifer was about to tell him off for teasing him, but he stopped because Marcus’ tone wasn't teasing.

He knew Marcus’ teasing tone all too well and that wasn't it, although he couldn't pinpoint what it was. It was soft and very unlike Marcus and it confused Lucifer.

So Lucifer didn’t say anything about Marcus' remark, instead he said: “Could I have my letter back?”

“Sure, I'll bring it to you tomorrow.” Marcus said, same soft tone as before, well soft by Marcus’ standards, and Lucifer flashed him a sad smile.

“Thanks.”

Marcus shrugged. “No need for thanks, I don't have what to do with it anyway.”

“Can we please talk about anything else now?” Lucifer asked and he grinned when Marcus said yes.

“You can be really nice when you want to.” Lucifer pointed out and Marcus grimaced.

“Maybe, but if you ever tell that to anyone, I'll kill you!” he threatened, Lucifer laughing, suddenly feeling much better.

Then they went back to their usual complaining and Lucifer all but forgot about how horrible his day was by the time they reached the cafe.

Working on the project turned out to be very relaxing and it eased the last of Lucifer's nerves- so much so that by the time Marcus packed his stuff and threw his bag over his shoulder Lucifer was perfectly calm, as if nothing ever happened.

“Do you have ride?” Marcus asked. “One that doesn't involve any of your siblings?” he added when Lucifer opened his mouth, Lucifer falling silent at that.

“No, but I'm gonna stay here for a little longer, so don't worry. Thanks anyways.” he said eventually, tone sweet, and Marcus rolled his eyes.

“Alright, you can't say I didn't ask. See you tomorrow.” Marcus said in his usual impassive tone and then he was out of the door before Lucifer managed to say anything else.

Lucifer sighed and he decided to give up his idea of staying, instead opting to go home right away. He started packing up his things slowly, not even trying to catch up with Marcus.

He had no idea what to make of Marcus’ sudden change of attitude- all he knew was that it threw him off and it made him want to dig a hole in the ground and hide in it-,but he tried not to think about it for too long. He had other things to think about, like the fact that he was gonna have to share a car with Amenadiel.

The car ride wasn't that bad, except that it was and it was terrible awkward, at least for Lucifer. Fortunately Amenadiel didn't feel very chatty that day, so Lucifer didn't have to talk to him, which made things slightly better.

Once Amenadiel parked in the driveway tho, he broke the silence, and he said the last words Lucifer wanted to hear.

“Lucifer, I know you hate me right now, but I did this for your own good.”

Lucifer scoffed.

“And what exactly do you define as my own good?” Lucifer asked, leaning back on his seat and looking out of the window. “And don't say Chloe, because that has nothing to do with what's best for me and everything to do with some weird obsession you have with the idea of Chloe and I dating.”

Amenadiel didn't say anything at that, only making that disappointed-older-brother face that made Lucifer want to punch him.

“What exactly were you expecting to happen, anyway?” Lucifer eventually said, paying his brother a short glance before looking ahead. “Were you expecting Chloe to read the fucking letter I wrote when we were freshmen and realize she had feelings for me all along?

Were you expecting me to realize that I still had feelings for her and that I still I meant every single word I wrote in a letter I wrote when I freshman? Were you expecting us to date and then get married and have 10 children and live happily ever after, all because you sent out a letter I wrote out of guilt?

What the fuck were you expecting to happen other than me losing one of my best friends? Please, enlighten me, cause I have no idea what was going through your head when you sneaked into my room, went through my stuff and then sent out into the world five of my most personal and private belongings!”

Lucifer was tearing up by the time he finished, his hands shaking from anger and his face twisted into a grimace.

Amenadiel didn't say anything at that, he didn't try to explain himself and Lucifer assumed it was because he didn't know how to. Lucifer sure as hell had no idea how to explain what his brother did.

After a short and tense silence, during which Lucifer waited for any explanation, Lucifer got out of the car and slammed the door. He then stormed inside the house and headed straight for his room, the last safe place in that house, or at least it used to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if I wrote Marcus as too sweet/soft too soon, it's because all I wrote for the past few months and all I thought about was established relationship stuff,,, so I was waaay too used to writing him all soft around Lucifer. I know, lame excuse, but whatever, it'll have to do.


	2. Chapter 2

He didn't sleep much that night, even less than most nights, so the next day he was completely exhausted. So exhausted that he almost fell asleep during math, so exhausted that he almost forgot that he was avoiding Chloe. Luckily it was only an almost and he remembered right before he was too Chloe to walk away.

He spend his lunch hiding at a table outside, knowing that his friends would much rather eat inside when it was so cold outside. And maybe he was freezing because he didn't dress appropriately for the weather, but at least he didn't have to have _that_ awkward discussion with Chloe.

“Still hiding?” A voice asked from behind him and Marcus sat down next to him in the following second.

“What do you think?” he asked- his tone cold, almost venomous-, not looking at Marcus.

Marcus sighed.

“You can't hide forever.”

“I don't have to hide forever, I just have to hide until the end of the school year, because after that Chloe is gonna move to LA and I'll stay here.” he explained, both his tone and his face emotionless.

“But wouldn't you rather not have to hide?” Marcus inquired and it was only then that Lucifer looked at him.

“But I can't. I… I'd rather not talk to her than… you know, lose one of my best friends.” Lucifer explained, his shoulder dropping and his head hung low.

“Maybe I can help.”

Lucifer laughed, a sad and bitter laugh. “How could you possibly help?”

“And more importantly, why would you help me?” Lucifer added, eyebrows raised.

“Well, I'm getting something out of it too.” Marcus said, Lucifer eyeing him suspiciously. Marcus sighed. “So, Chloe saw us kissing yesterday, right?” Lucifer nodded.

“What if… we pretended to be a couple. That way she won't think that you might still like her and with that possibility out of the way it'll be a lot easier to explain the whole letter thing.” Marcus said and Lucifer laughed, again.

He stopped laughing shortly tho, once he realized that Marcus was dead serious.

“Ok, let's say that I agree, who will buy that? No one has ever seen us do anything other than bicker. Also, you said you're getting something out of it too and I have no idea what you could possibly get out of this.”

“I… I'll be left alone. I keep having people flirt with me or ask me out and I'm just sick of it. This way, I'll be left alone cause I have a boyfriend and after we break up I'll just say I'm just too heartbroken to date anyone.”

Lucifer raised his eyebrows. “Who the fuck hates having people flirt with them?”

Marcus rolled his eyes. “Someone who has no time for such things. Or has any sort of standards.”

“I would be offended, but joke's on you cause I never actually dated anyone.” Lucifer said, a smug grin on his face.

“I know. It wasn't directed at you. It was directed at my teammates.”

“You really hate them don't you?”

“No, that takes too much energy, but since I am forced to hear about their pathetic girlfriends I might as well take a jab at them whenever I can.” Marcus explained with a shrug.

Lucifer cleared his throat, shooting a glare Marcus’ way and Marcus sigh.

“Sorry, all of their girlfriends suck, except for Espinoza's.” he said and Lucifer grinned again.

“Much better.” Lucifer announced and Marcus looked at him expectantly. “And I'll accept your offer, but we need some rules.”

“Couldn't agree more.”

Lucifer nodded and he took out one of his notebooks, ripping  a page out of it before putting it back. He then took a pen and wrote ‘Contract’ at the top of the page, before turning to Marcus.

“Ok, well firstly, you actually need to look like you can at least stand me, so…” he began and then he wrote down on the paper: _“1. Marcus has to look at least mildly pleased to see Lucifer.”_

“Just mildly?” Marcus questioned, eyebrows raised and Lucifer could've sworn he sounded amused.

“Yeah, anything less than that will be suspicious and anything more than that will also be suspicious.” Lucifer explained with a shrug before turning back to the paper.

 _“2. Marcus and Lucifer have to take at least one selfie/week, which Lucifer can”_ , Lucifer began writing, but then he had a change of heart and crossed off the word ‘can’, _”will post on instagram.”_

Marcus sighed and he took a pen from his own backpack before taking the paper from Lucifer and writing: _“3. Lucifer has to help Marcus study.”_

“Why? You have straight As!” Lucifer said, head tilted to the side.

“I don't need you to,” Marcus began to say, taking a pause to find the proper way to explain himself, “like actually help me, I just barely have any time to study and I could use a study partner. You know, someone to keep me accountable and make sure I actually get shit done.” he finished, trying to sound nonchalant, but Lucifer managed to get a glimpse of what looked like embarrassment.

“Ok, I can do that.” Lucifer said and he smiled as he continued: “I could use a study partner as well.”

Lucifer then took back the paper from Marcus, writing down what he wanted to before Marcus snatched the paper from him.

_“4. Marcus has to pretend to take Lucifer out on a date at least once every two weeks.”_

Marcus then took the paper again, crossing out ‘every two weeks’ and replacing it with ‘twice a week’. Lucifer glanced at the paper and then at Marcus, confused.

“We can study then. I don't have time to do all of my homework in between practice and work anyway. Plus, what were we supposed to do during our fake dates?” he explained, Lucifer giving it a thought before he nodded.

“Fair enough.”

 _“5. Lucifer has to attend Marcus' football matches,”_ Marcus began writing on the paper, but before he could finish Lucifer pushed him out and added ‘(and the afterparties)’.

Marcus shot a glare Lucifer's way when he read what Lucifer wrote and in response Lucifer grinned at him.

“That's not happening.” Marcus said, clearly not taking a no for answer, but unfortunately for him Lucifer was known for always getting his way.

“Why not? Don't you like having fun?” he teased more than anything and Marcus rolled his eyes, thoroughly annoyed with Lucifer's antics.

“I like having fun, but parties are not fun for me.”

“Then what _is_ fun for you?” Lucifer asked, quickly adding: “You're not allowed to say school or practice or work.”

Marcus sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers and he was just so, _so_ done with Lucifer. Or at least that's how it seemed to Lucifer.

“Oh, no, you left all out of options.” Marcus said, completely deadpan but at the same time oozing with sarcasm and Lucifer couldn't help grinning. “For fucks sake, Lucifer, do you really think I'm that boring?” he added moments later, shaking his head when Lucifer said ‘yes’.

“Well, since you really think that little of me, I assure you I wasn't gonna any of those things. I was gonna say reading. I'm not _that_ fucking boring.”

Lucifer frowned. “I would make fun of that, but reading _is_ fun. Anyway, we'll discuss the party thing.” he said, waving a hand dismissively.

Marcus nodded and he turned back to the paper and added: _“and Marcus has to attend Lucifer's plays.”_

Lucifer perked up as soon as he read Marcus’ addition, grinning from ear to ear as he asked: “You'd do that?”

“If you're gonna attend my matches it only seems fair that I'll attend your plays. It's not like it's even gonna be that bad, you're really good.”

“This is the second compliment you payed me in two days? Should I be worried?” Lucifer teased with a smirk and the look on Marcus’ face told Lucifer that Marcus was _so_ close to calling the whole thing off.

“You know you'll have to stop doing that if you want anyone to believe us, right?” Marcus asked with a glare that could cut glass.

“The same could be said for you.” Lucifer retorted, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Yeah, I know. In case you haven't noticed I know.” Marcus said between gritted teeth.

“Oh…” Lucifer said, blinking a few times before he shook his head and took the paper.

_“6. Marcus will drive Lucifer to school until Lucifer gets his car back.”_

“I'm gonna do it, so there's no need to argue about this too, but what happened to your car? Cause last year you had one, a real expensive one while we're at it, and now you're taking the bus.” Marcus asked, eyebrows furrowed.

Lucifer sighed. “My dad took it to humble me,” he said between gritted teeth, getting angry just remembering the incident. “He said that I turned into an entitled prick and that he couldn't keep bribing the school so I'd have perfect attendance, so he took my car and said he'll give it back to me at the end of the semester if I'll have a perfect attendance without him having to interfere.”

“You didn't skip _that_ many classes last year.” Marcus pointed out and Lucifer huffed.

“I know!” he groaned, rolling his eyes.”Anyway,” he started moments later with a sigh, “enough about my dad. he stated and he turned to the paper.

 _“7. Marcus will go with Lucifer on the school’s ski trip.”_ he wrote, which earned him a disapproving look from Marcus.

Marcus even opened his mouth to protest, but then he decided against it, in the end just nodding.

“Is there a problem?” Lucifer asked, rather softly, head tilted to the side.

Marcus shook his head. “No, don't worry about it.”

“If there is any problem you can tell me, I'll take care of it.” Lucifer offered and Marcus nodded, but Lucifer didn't really believe him. He didn't say anything about it tho, turning back to the paper and writing what was, at least for him, the most important rule of them all.

 _“8. Lucifer’s dad won't ever find out about this under any circumstances!!!”_ He wrote and he underlined the words ‘ever’ and ‘any’.

“Ok.” was all Marcus said, not questioning Lucifer and all of sudden Lucifer wondered what Marcus’ family was like. He didn't ask, solely because he had a feeling that all Marcus was gonna say was gonna be a cryptic and insincere ‘they're ok’.

Lucifer looked over the rules again, trying to think if he needed to add anything else, but nothing came to mind. “Anything else you want to add?” he asked Marcus, turning to look at him.

“No. You?”

“No.” Lucifer said, looking back down at the paper. “Then I guess this is it.” he added, tracing two lines and neatly writing his name right above the first line and then he pushed the paper in Marcus' direction.

Marcus wrote his name right above the second line, not saying a word, pushing the paper back to Lucifer when he was done.

“Shall we shake hands or would a kiss be more appropriate?” Lucifer teased with a grin, offering his hand for Marcus to shake before Marcus got to answer the question.

Marcus sighed and he shook Lucifer's hand, leaning in and giving Lucifer a small peck on the lips before letting go of Lucifer's hand.

Lucifer was stunned by that, but he collected himself quickly, grinning afterwards and he leaned in close, so close that his nose was touching Marcus’.

“If you wanted to go for the kiss you could've just said so. We could've done it better.” he said and he caught Marcus’ lips into a kiss before Marcus could say anything.

Marcus didn't push him away- for the second time that week-, instead he put a hand on Lucifer's shoulder to steady himself and he leaned closer to get more from the kiss. Lucifer smirked against his lips, before deciding to get more from the kiss too, but in his own way.

The kiss left both of them breathless, Marcus’ cheeks flushed red- and Lucifer could bet his own were the same- and Lucifer smiled and gave Marcus a loving gaze, before giving Marcus a kiss on the cheek.

“I take it we’re starting right now.” Marcus remarked, taking the contract and folding it before putting it in his backpack.

He then seemed to remember something and he looked through his backpack until he found what he was looking for.

“Also, I promised I'd bring you this.” he said, handing Lucifer an envelope, which Lucifer recognized right away.

“Thanks.” Lucifer said and he took the envelope and put it in his backpack, making a mental note to put it back where it belonged as soon as he got home.

“Also,” Marcus began and he took a second envelope out of his backpack, ”Maze told me to give you this.”

Lucifer took the envelope and looked at it, recognizing it as well and he smiled when he noticed that it wasn't open.

“Do you have crushes on all of your best friends?” Marcus teased, his tone uncharacteristically light.

“Looks like it.” Lucifer said, tucking away the envelope, a light feeling in his chest.

“Now, come here. We need to take a picture. I need a new background picture. And I don't wanna hear any complains cause it's in the contract.” Lucifer announced after a moment and Marcus groaned, but he complied nevertheless.

Lucifer took out his phone, set it on camera and put his head on Marcus’ shoulder, grinning widely before snapping a picture. He then kissed Marcus’ cheek and snapped another picture, Marcus returning the favour for the third picture.

“Sent me the third one.” Marcus said nonchalantly as Lucifer went through the pictures trying to decide which one he liked best.

He decided on the second one, mostly because Marcus seemed content in it and that look really suited his fake boyfriend. He also posted that picture on instagram, tagging Marcus in it and captioning it with “the actual loml” followed by a heart emoji.

He then sent Marcus the last picture, afterwards setting the first one as Marcus’ contact picture in his phone.

“Now one more.” he stated and it was only then that Marcus actually dared to comment.

“What?! We took three and the contract said one!” he said and Lucifer rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, but if we want anyone to believe us we need a polaroid too. I take polaroids of all the important things in my life and technically you qualify, so one more.” Lucifer said, not leaving any space for a no, as he took out his polaroid camera.

Lucifer then snapped the fourth and final picture and he smiled when he saw that Marcus had the same content look as before, captioning the picture with that day's date in sharpie before tucking it away in his backpack.

“Are we done now?”

“Yes. Can we go inside now?” he asked as he looked up at Marcus, a grin on his face and bouncing one of his legs in excitement.

“Sure.” Marcus said, a certain softness in his tone, but Lucifer was too happy to question him.

Instead he threw his bag over his shoulder, grabbed Marcus’ hand and dragged Marcus across the yard and into the cafeteria, heading straight for his friends.

As soon as he reached his usual table he sat besides Maze, as usual, greeting everyone while sporting a wide grin on his face. Marcus sat next to him moments later, taking Lucifer's hand into his own and he squeezed Lucifer's hand tightly.

Lucifer took a glance at their intertwined hands and then at Marcus- who loosened his grip as soon as he noticed that Lucifer was looking at him-, before looking around the table at his friends, who all looked confused- save for Dan, who was clearly looking at Marcus and who looked like he just saw a ghost.

“Don't worry, Espinoza, I hate this as much as you do, but I'm doing it for Lucifer.” Marcus said, glaring at Dan- who dropped his head on the table after hearing Marcus’ remark, and all of sudden all eyes were on him instead of Marcus and Lucifer.

“They're dating.” was all Dan said and then all eyes were on Marcus and Lucifer again.

“Why are you all looking like this? Am I not allowed to have a boyfriend?” Lucifer said and he let go of Marcus’ hand to put his hands on his hips.

“It's not that, it's just that…” Linda spoke up, Maze interrupting her before she could finish:

“You don't do boyfriends. Or girlfriends. You only do hookups.” Maze said bluntly and despite her words Lucifer still smiled warmly at her.

“Well, I just had a change of heart.” Lucifer said, glancing lovingly at Marcus and there wasn't a single bit of pretending there, but Lucifer didn't know that yet.

“And when exactly did you have this change of heart?” Charlotte asked, eyebrows raised, resting her chin in the palm of her hand.

“Today. A few minutes ago actually.” Lucifer said casually, leaning in and mimicking Charlotte's position.

“Are you…” Linda began, but she stopped as soon as she glanced at Marcus.

“No, no, go ahead. Tear him to shreds.” Marcus said nonchalantly and Lucifer glared at him, sighing as he looked back at his friends.

“Lucifer, are you sure about this? Maze, while unnecessary harsh,” Linda began and she glared briefly at Maze before turning her gaze back to Lucifer, “is right. You don't do any long term partners, you never did, and we all just want to make sure that you won't have another change of heart in a week when you'll get bored of this.”

“Linda's right, Lucifer,” Chloe started and Lucifer glanced at her for a moment before looking at something right over her shoulder, “you have to be sure now because before whenever you were with someone everyone involved knew that it wasn't serious and it wasn't gonna last, now you could actually hurt someone and we all know that you don't wanna do that.” she said and she reached over to put her hand on Lucifer's reassuringly.

Lucifer smiled softly, tipping his head as he said: “I'm sure, as sure as I can be. I've been thinking about it for almost two weeks now.” he said and he glanced at Marcus, who looked amused.

“Two weeks is a lot for him.” Maze explained, seemingly noticing Marcus’ amusement as well.

“Oh, I know, that doesn't make it any less funny, especially since all of you are acting like we're gonna get married or something.” Marcus said, not taking his eyes off Lucifer for a single moment.

“Oh, that sounds nice!” Lucifer said, his whole being lightning up like he was a Christmas tree.

Marcus glared at him. “Don't overstep it!” he warned and Lucifer groaned and rolled his eyes.

He quickly cheered up again and he gave Marcus a small peck on the lips, and then everything went to normal. Except for Dan's scheduled shit talking about Marcus, because you can't shit talk someone when they're across the table from you and, on top of that, they can make your life hell.


	3. Chapter 3

At the end of the lunch break the group scattered and Lucifer gave Marcus a quick kiss before he started heading for class, smiling all the way to class.

Right before he got to his class Chloe tapped him on the shoulder, Lucifer flashing her a grin before greeting her. He noted that she seemed rather nervous.

“Can we talk?” she asked, playing with her fingers and looking at something right over Lucifer's head. “Not now, after school.”

“Sure, can we meet at five, at the cafe?” Lucifer asked casually, despite knowing what she wanted to talk about.

“Perfect. I'll see you then.” she said, visibly relieved that he agreed and then she was off to her class, which was right next to Lucifer.

Their next encounter, after class, wasn't as awkward- it wasn't awkward at all- and Lucifer was more than glad for that because the last thing he wanted was to lose Chloe.

“I saw you talking with Chloe today, how did it go?” Marcus asked later that day as they made their way to their usual studying spot.

“It went great, except that she wants to talk to me later, but I think it can't possibly go that bad, right?” Lucifer said, asking for reassurance, which Marcus gave to him with no hesitations.

“It's gonna be fine. She'll understand, especially since I'm sure she doesn't wanna lose you as much as you don't wanna lose her.”

Lucifer grinned, clinging to Marcus’ arm and giving his fake boyfriend a kiss on the cheek- and he could've sworn he saw Marcus smile.

“I can't believe _I_ ended up being the optimistic one out of the two of us.” Marcus remarked and Lucifer laughed and Marcus intertwined their hands.

“And no one can believe that out of all the people either of us could date we decided to date each other, so today really is quite a strange day, huh?” Lucifer said when he finished laughing, still smiling brightly.

“Yeah, I guess it is.” Marcus said with a shrug, in a tone that sounded as content.

“Were almost done, aren't we?” Marcus asked a few moments later and Lucifer hummed approvingly, Marcus responding with a nod.

“Can we do the math homework tomorrow? Or at least as much as we can in one hour? I want it out of the way.” he then asked and he sounded tired, even exhausted, and Lucifer knew that feeling all too well.

“Sure, I'd like it out of the way too.” Lucifer said, sounding equally tired. “When are we gonna go on our first pretend date?”

“This Friday. I was thinking that I could make us dinner, but if you wanna go out that's fine by me.”

“You can cook?” Lucifer asked, all of sudden excited for their first pretend-but-not-really-after-all date.

“Last time I checked, I still needed to eat.” Marcus said, not even a little amused, but that didn't budge Lucifer, not even a little bit.

“Plenty of people need to eat but they still can't cook for shit, that doesn't mean anything.” Lucifer shot back, cheerful as ever. “Anyway, you're cooking and if you want next week I can cook.”

“That's fine by me. I just hope you don't mind going out late, because I have to go to work and I can't just skip it.”

“How late are we talking?”

“Well, I get off work at eleven, so roughly twelve?”

“Twelve’s fine. We can spend the night together.” Lucifer said, full of subtext and Marcus rolled his eyes.

“Wait until the second date at least, geez.” Marcus said with a sigh, not a single bit of emotion in his voice.

Lucifer smirked. “Just the second date? I can wait that long.”

“But...uhm…” Lucifer started after a beat, “oh, wow, I never had to ask this before, but is sex really on the table?”

Marcus gave the question a thought and then “Yeah.” he said, completely impassive as he was most of the time.

“Really?”

Marcus nodded.

“Well, that's a nice surprise! The best kind of surprise really,” Lucifer began, giving his fake boyfriend a peck on the lips, “but it feels a little too easy.” He finished, eyeing Marcus suspiciously.

“Should I play hard to get then?” Marcus teased, a playful glint in his eye and Lucifer was rendered speechless.

“No,” he said and he shook his head, “there is no need for that, I was just curious why you accepted so easily, that’s all.” Lucifer said as he ran a hand along Marcus’ arm.

“Because... because you’re hot. What kind of reason would you want other than that?” Marcus asked, his tone weirdly inexpressive compared to his words.

“You think I’m hot?” Lucifer asked, with his head tilted.

“Lucifer, just because I can barely stand you doesn’t mean that I am blind or completely tasteless.” Marcus explained, at that point completely exasperated (or at least so thought Lucifer), and Lucifer chuckled.

“That’s another two compliments from you in the span of two days! Next time maybe try to compliment me around others, will you?” Lucifer said with a smirk and he winked at Marcus.

Marcus sighed and rolled his eyes and Lucifer wondered how much more Marcus could handle. And well, he was about to find out.

“Wait,” he asked, having a change of heart in the last moment, “does that mean that…”

“I'm bi, Lucifer.” Marcus said, already knowing how that question was gonna end. “I'm not faking it that much.”

“Good to know.” Lucifer said with a smirk, giving Marcus another peck on the lips.

“You didn't know that already?” Marcus questioned, eyebrows raised and Lucifer chuckled.

“Well, I thought so, my gaydar is impeccable after all, but it's good to be sure.”

“You're ridiculous.” Marcus stated and he intertwined their hands just as they entered the cafe.

They didn't have much work left to do, so instead of their usual silence Lucifer tried to see how much more of his shit Marcus could handle. It turned out that Marcus could handle all of Lucifer's shit.

But the hour had to end and as soon as it did Marcus gathered his stuff and threw his bag over his shoulder. The sight reminded Lucifer of what was about to happen and his anxiety skyrocketed.

Marcus clearly noticed that because his features seemed to soften up as he said: “Don’t worry, it's gonna be ok.” and he put his hand over Lucifer's hand and maintained eye contact for a solid few seconds and Lucifer's heart made several flips in the span of those seconds.

Lucifer only nodded and Marcus gave him a peck on the lips. “Tell me how it went, ok?” he asked and Lucifer nodded again.

“See you tomorrow.” he said and he was out of the door. Lucifer forced a smile more in his general direction than at him and then as soon as Marcus left he frowned, starting to gather his things as well.

Just as he finished and put his backpack on the chair next to him- the chair Marcus previously sat on-, Chloe entered the cafe and made a beeline for his table.

Lucifer smiled and greeted her, as cheerfully as he could, and she greeted him back, albeit sounding a little nervous.

“We… uhm… need to talk… or rather I need to give you something back.” Chloe said and she took out a letter from her backpack, which she slid across the table towards Lucifer.

“Thank you.” was all Lucifer said and he quickly hid the letter in the safety of his backpack, right next to the other two letters he got back earlier that day.

Chloe sighed. “I… I'm sorry for reading it. I feel like I shouldn't have.”

Lucifer smiled. “You shouldn't have, but don't feel bad about it, it's not your fault.” he reassured her and she nodded, but she was still visibly nervous.

“No one was supposed to see that, or the others, but my… my brother sent them. He thought he did me a good, but all he did was embarrass me and make me almost lose my best friend.” Lucifer explained, head hung low.

“You could never lose me.” Chloe said and Lucifer's head snapped back up so he could look at her. Surprised flashed across his face and then his features softened and he smiled again.

“Good, cause you're not getting rid of me either.” Lucifer said and they both smiled and everything was right again in the world, or at least in Lucifer's world.

“And I'm sorry for the letter. I think you figured out when I wrote it and I'm so sorry. We were supposed to be just friends and yet I… I'm sorry. I… I know it's not really an excuse but you were so nice to me and I got confused and I… I…” he said and then he fell silent, at loss for fitting words to apologize to his best friend for what he perceived as betrayal.

“Don't apologize.” Chloe said and she shook her head. “It happened and you still had my wishes in mind, otherwise you wouldn't have written a letter and hid it but instead you would've asked me out or something, so I'm not holding it against you and I'm sure I wouldn't have held it against you even then.” she said and Lucifer nodded, suddenly feeling lighter.

“Thank you so, _so_ much!” Lucifer said softly and he just couldn't help smiling. “But…” he began a beat later, his smile gone, “this is it?”

Chloe nodded. “Yeah, this is it. You wrote it freshman year, I'd be stupid of me to question if you still have feelings for me, especially since you have a boyfriend and all.” she said with a shrug and then she asked: “But you mentioned some others, so are there any other letters?”

“Yes, five of them.”

“Was there one for Marcus too?” she asked with a smirk and Lucifer laughed.

“Yeah, there is one for Marcus.”  Lucifer said with a laugh and Chloe laughed with him at that, but then she frowned as she remembered something.

“Did his got sent out too?” she asked, stoic all of sudden.

Lucifer nodded.

“All of them did.” Lucifer said, just as stoic as Chloe and he looked down at his drink, tapping his fingers against the cup.

“I'm so sorry.”

“It's ok. For the most part I didn't really care, I was only worried that I was gonna lose you because of the one I wrote for you.” Lucifer explained and Chloe put her hand over his and smiled reassuringly.

“Still, those letters seemed private from what you told me and he shouldn't have sent them, unless you told him, which you didn't.” Chloe said and Lucifer shrugged.

“That's just how my family is, I got used to it.” Lucifer said nonchalantly and he continued when he saw that Chloe was about to say something: “And I know that I shouldn't get used to it and that it's fucked up anyway and all of that, but this is my life and I can't change it and it's better if I don't try to think about how fucked up it is.” he said and Chloe watched him carefully, before nodding.

“Well, since this is out of the way, tell me about Marcus! I wanna know everything!” she said with a grin and Lucifer was smiling again.

“Everything?” he asked with a smirk and Chloe grimaced.

“Ok, maybe not everything.”

“Well, there's nothing to tell in that department anyway, but I'm just saying…” Lucifer said before Chloe could add anything else and he rested his chin in his hand.

“Well, that aside, how did you two get together?”

“Well, I'm not exactly sure, to be honest. It just kind of… happened.” Lucifer began explaining, only in that moment realizing that they didn't exactly agree on a story.

“I mean, we are partners on this history project and that kind of forced us to actually talk. Before we didn't really talk, we only had our weird banter kinda thing, but now we had an actual conversation and I don't know, talking to him really brought out all the good in him and I think he felt the same way and earlier today I asked him if he wanted to be my boyfriend and he said yes, so we're doing that now I suppose.” Lucifer said, not quite lying, but not quite saying the truth either.

“And how exactly did he accept?”

“He shrugged and said sure, he didn't sound very enthusiastic, but he never does. But we pretty much made out afterwards and he definitely seemed more enthusiastic.” Lucifer explained with a grin and the look on Chloe face told him that she regretted asking.

“And do you know for how long he liked you?” Chloe then asked and Lucifer shook his head.

“No, we didn't talk about that kind of stuff, but we have plenty of time to, I suppose.” Lucifer said and he sounded rather uncertain, because that's exactly how he felt as only then he realized how little they actually talked that whole thing through.

“I'm kind of nervous about this, actually. I mean, I'm very happy, I am, and I'm also excited because it's something new but I'm also a little nervous.” he said after a beat, not letting Chloe respond to what he said previously.

“It'll be fine, don't worry. Both of you will figure everything out.” Chloe reassured him and he nodded, although he was unconvinced, especially given the real nature of his relationship with Marcus.

“I know you don't believe me, but you should. Strangely enough, you two actually fit together almost perfectly.” she added and Lucifer furrowed his eyebrows.

“We have… nothing in common, interest wise and personality wise.” he pointed out, leaning back on his chair.

“You have more in common than you think, I'm sure of it, but the things you don't… they… they balance each other out to say so. I can't quite explain it but now that I think about it I can only see the two of you together if that makes sense?” she said and Lucifer nodded, because deep down he felt the same way, but he was never gonna say it and mean it.

“I get it. It's kinda like… he can tame me a little and I can get him to live a little.” he said and she nodded. “That makes sense.” he added, a thoughtful look on his face.

“Did you two go out on any dates yet? Or are you still not doing dates?” Chloe then asked, clearly trying to lighten up the mood again.

“Oh, I do dates. With him, at least. But we haven't gone on any yet. But we will, this Friday. He'll cook! He can cook! I don't know why that's surprising, but it is, a good kind of surprising! And I'm really excited for it!” he practically beamed, Chloe smiling softly at him as he did so.

“That's good. And I wanna hear all the details, well… almost all the details. And I wanna hear them first.” Chloe warned, lighthearted enough that Lucifer knew he didn't have to take her seriously.

“I'll report first thing in the morning!” he announced cheerfully, a big grin on his face and everything fell right into place from that point on, the last of Lucifer's nerves washing away like they never were there in the first place.

So they sat and talked and talked until Chloe took a look at the clock and practically jumped from her chair because she still had to study at biology. Lucifer offered to help, naturally, but she brushed him off and insisted that she got it. Then they paid their goodbyes and parted their ways, Lucifer hesitating to call Amenadiel to come and pick him up, but eventually deciding to text Marcus first and tell him that everything was fine.

To his surprise, not only did Marcus see the text right away, but, instead of texting him back, he called.

“Hey! Aren't you supposed to be at work?” Lucifer asked, first thing he answered his phone.

“I'm on break.” Marcus explained, to which Lucifer hummed. “Now tell me more because I don't know how but somehow you got me invested in this.” he added, as nonchalantly as ever, and Lucifer really wished Marcus was next to him in that moment so he could kiss him.

“Well, all she wanted to do was give me back the letter and apologize for reading it. I had to explain to her the whole letter situation and I apologized for writing it and all, but she understood and we're still best friends and… and everything’s back to normal now.” Lucifer explained as he grinned from ear to ear.

Marcus hummed in response and it sounded like he was smiling, but Lucifer couldn't picture it, so he decided not to think (too much) about it.

“That's great. Need a ride?” Marcus asked after a beat and Lucifer nodded, before remembering that Marcus couldn't see him.

“You sure you have enough time? I don't wanna get you in trouble. I mean, I would love to get you in trouble if that means you'll stop being so stuck up and boring, but not like this.” he explained, leaning against the wall of the cafe.

“I have enough time, don't worry. It's a short ride anyway. Still at the cafe?”

“Yes.”

“Then I'll see you in a bit.” Marcus said and he hung up.

Lucifer kept the phone to his ear for a few more moments, afterwards just looking at the picture he set as Marcus’ contact picture earlier that day for a few seconds, before reluctantly putting his phone back in his pocket.

Marcus arrived a few minutes later and Lucifer gave him his best and most loving heart eyes as he took off his helmet.

“Hey!” Lucifer said as he walked up to Marcus, greeting his fake boyfriend with a kiss.

“Hey.” Marcus answered after they parted their lips and he looked Lucifer up and down, seeming very pleased with what he was seeing.

“Hop on.” he then said, a little breathless, and Lucifer enjoyed that perhaps a little too much all things considered. 

Lucifer did as he was told more than happily, accepting the helmet Marcus handed him as soon as he sat comfortably behind him.

“Safety first.” Marcus explained, looking over his shoulder at Lucifer and Lucifer smiled as he nodded and put on the helmet. Lucifer then clung to Marcus, nuzzling against Marcus’ back.

“Ready to go?” Marcus asked and Lucifer only nodded, and there was just something about that whole exchange that left Lucifer with a warm feeling spreading through his body.

Marcus was right as the ride was indeed short and Lucifer was in front of his house (mansion) in no time. He kind of dreaded how short the ride was and it had nothing to do with the fact that he was gonna have to face his family (or parts of it, anyway).

“Thanks for the ride!” Lucifer said as soon as he was standing in front of his boyfriend, helmet clung to his chest.

“It's nothing. Didn't think you'd want to share a car with your brother, that's all.”

“You just made your gesture sound even nicer.” Lucifer pointed out with a smirk and Marcus rolled his eyes.

“Well, what can I say, I'm not a total dick. I understand why you wouldn't wanna be around him right now.”

Lucifer smiled softly, but only for a moment before remembering about the helmet he was still holding and he was about to hand it back to Marcus, but then Marcus shook his head.

“Keep it. At least for now. You'll need it in the morning anyway.” he said dismissively and Lucifer nodded before clinging onto the helmet tighter.

“Thanks again for the ride. See you tomorrow!” Lucifer said and he gave Marcus a peck on the lips.

“What time should I come pick you up?”

“Anytime you like, just text me when you leave so I won't make you wait.” Lucifer said and then he gave Marcus one last peck before going inside, a warm and fuzzy feeling in his chest.

“Hey, Luci, how did you get home?” Amenadiel questioned as soon as Lucifer entered the house, alternating between looking at his brother and at the helmet Lucifer was holding.

“My boyfriend gave me a ride.” was all Lucifer said and then he was off to his room, leaving behind a choire of questions from his siblings. He was in too good of a mood in that moment to sit and answer their questions and hear them tear him apart.

Lucifer stayed in his room the whole evening and the whole night, skipping dinner and not even going for a midnight snack not to risk having his good mood ruined by a chance meeting with any of his siblings, and so, by morning he was in a good mood- which was both pleasant and odd at the same time.

That morning he was ready to go with a few minutes before Marcus texted him and as soon as that happened he practically jumped to his feet and started rushing out of the door, making sure to avoid the dining room.

But, despite all of his precautions, he still managed to run into Amenadiel right before he was out of the door.

“Luci, we need to talk.” Amenadiel said, a hand on Lucifer's arm to stop Lucifer from leaving (again).

“About what?”

“About last night. You can't just say you got a ride from your boyfriend and leave.” Amenadiel pointed out and Lucifer shrugged.

“What is there to say? I have a boyfriend and he gave a ride and he'll give me rides from now on until I get my car back. Anything else you wanna talk about? I'm kind of in a hurry.” Lucifer said completely impassive and he had to hold back a chuckle because it's been one day and Marcus was already rubbing off onto him.

“Yeah, we still need to talk. I have no idea who this boyfriend of yours is or when did you suddenly get a boyfriend. I have so many questions, Lucifer, we all do.” Amenadiel said, but Lucifer really couldn't care less.

“I've been dating Marcus Pierce since yesterday. Now I'm gonna go, because some of us still have to go to school.” Lucifer said, just as impassive as before and he snatched his arm from Amenadiel’s grip and made a beeline for the door.

He grinned as soon as he got outside and saw Marcus in front of the house, his heart skipping a beat because Marcus’ whole nonchalance-leather jacket-motorcycle thing was hot.

“Morning, honey!” Lucifer said softly, giving his fake boyfriend a kiss, not noticing the shock on Marcus’ face at Lucifer's use of the pet name.

“Good morning to you too.” Marcus said, examining Lucifer carefully as if he was looking for something. He gave up shortly tho and Lucifer concluded that he probably didn't find what he whatever it was that he was looking for. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, why are you asking? Do I look that bad?” Lucifer more teased than anything.

“No, far from it.” Marcus said, seeming to check out Lucifer which made Lucifer smirk.

“Then are you worried that my brothers tore me apart last night?” Lucifer then questioned, tipping his head to the side.

“More or less.”

“Well, don't worry, I'm fine. They know we are dating and they are dying to meet you, mostly because they don't know shit about you.”

“Well, I'm not dying to meet them.” Marcus said and Lucifer took Marcus’ hand and intertwined their fingers.

“Good, cause I don't want you to meet them. They're dreadful.”

Marcus noddes. “Shall we go?” he added a moment later as he looked at their intertwined hands and Lucifer didn't need to be told twice.

“Yes.” he said and he put on his helmet, sitting behind Marcus on the bike moments later, quickly clinging onto Marcus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have decided that with all of my school work I simply do not have the time to post a chapter/week, so from now on I'll update every two weeks.


	4. Chapter 4

Lucifer knocked on the door of Marcus’ apartment on friday night, waiting a few moments before Marcus opened the door.

“Hey.” Lucifer said and he looked his fake boyfriend up and down before giving him a kiss, afterwards practically inviting himself in.

He took a quick glance around the minuscule (at least from his point of view) apartment as Marcus took his jacket and then he sat down on the couch, making himself comfortable.

Marcus raised his eyebrows at that, but he didn't say anything- a glint of amusement in his eyes.

“Sorry the food's not done already, I had some scheduling issues.” Marcus apologised as he went to check on the pots that were on the stove.

“Not a problem. Do you have anything to drink? I'm dying for a drink.” Lucifer asked, at which Marcus just opened a cabinet and took out an unopened bottle of whiskey, setting it on the counter next to him.

“There are glasses on the table already. Pour me one too.” was all Marcus said and Lucifer was already on his feet, taking the bottle and opening it as he made his way to the table.

He poured from the bottle into both of the glasses and he smiled when he noticed that the table was already set. He smiled even brighter when he leaned against the counter next to Marcus and he smelled the food, which smelled delicious already.

He then took a sip from his drink, offering Marcus the other glass and Marcus emptied it in one sip.

“Stressful day at work?” Lucifer inquired and Marcus shrugged.

“Not really. I'm just tired.”

Lucifer laughed at that. “Usually people sleep when they're tired, not drink.” he said, but he quickly added, “But I understand. I am tired too.” he said and he took a quick glance at Marcus before emptying his glass as well.

He then went and poured another round of drinks, taking the bottle with him this time as he figured they were gonna need it.

“You know, if we keep it up like this, we're probably gonna finish the whole bottle before the food is ready.” he said with a chuckle and Marcus paid him a small glance before turning back to the food.

“Not probably, most likely.” Marcus corrected and Lucifer grinned.

But Lucifer's grin fell moments later as he looked around the small and empty apartment, wondering yet again about Marcus’ family, but this time he didn't push the thought out of his mind.

“But, hey… uhm... where's your family?” he asked, looking anywhere but at Marcus. “I mean, it's friday night and you're all by yourself here.”

“That's because it's just me.” Marcus said with a shrug and Lucifer turned to look at him.

“My parents are dead, Lucifer.” he added a moment later, before Lucifer could even form an answer to what Marcus previously said. “And I have a younger brother, but he's with his foster family, so it's just me.”

“I… I'm so sorry,” Lucifer breathed out after a beat, eyes cast down and head hung low.

“Don't be.”

“But… why aren't you with a foster family like your brother?” Lucifer then asked, glancing at Marcus for a moment before looking back down when Marcus looked at him.

“Because I got emancipated last year. My foster family didn't give a shit about me, hence why they let me move by myself, in another town, two years ago, so last year I went ahead and got emancipated and now it's just me, even legally.” Marcus explained in his usual impassive tone, which confused Lucifer to no end as he couldn't picture anyone being that uncaring and nonchalant about that particular subject.

“Do you ever miss them? Your parents, I mean.” Lucifer found himself asking, as he tried to imagine how he'd feel if he was in Marcus’ situation. He concluded that doesn't matter how much he hated his family he would still miss them like crazy if they died.

“Very rarely.” Marcus said, his voice more a whisper than anything else. “And it's not because I don't actually miss them, it's just that I don't really think about them anymore. I don't have the time to think about them in between going to school, studying, football practice and two jobs. I barely have time for anything and when I do I'm completely exhausted and I fall asleep right away.”

“What about your brother? Do you miss him? Do you even still talk to him?”

“No and no. I always hated my brother and he returned the feeling, so the moment I stopped having to deal with him was one of the best moment of my life, if not the best.”

Lucifer furrowed his eyebrows at that, falling deep into thought. He could understand Marcus not really missing his parents because he was simply too busy to think about them. He more or less felt that way about his mom so he knew the feeling, or at least he could grasp it.

But what he couldn't understand was Marcus not missing his brother. He hated his siblings too, he couldn't call what he felt towards his siblings anything else other than hate, but he would most certainly miss them if they died or they got separated in any way. Hell, one of his brothers didn't live with him and he missed him like crazy despite him being horrible to him. So he couldn't grasp how Marcus felt about his brother.

“You ok?” Marcus asked after a minute of silence and Lucifer snapped his head up, looking at Marcus.

“Yeah, sorry, I just can't understand how you don't miss your brother. One of my older siblings doesn't live with me anymore and I hate him and yet, I still miss him.” he explained, to which Marcus nodded.

“Maybe you don't hate him as much as you think you do. Or maybe, despite the fact that you hate him, you still see him as family. I don't see my brother as family anymore and I guess that that makes it easier not to miss him.”

Lucifer gave Marcus’ words a thought and then he said: “I think it's the second one.”

“But…” Marcus began and Lucifer hummed for him to continue, “I have a question, about your family. I told you plenty about mine, so I think I am entitled to one question.”

“Yeah, sure. Ask away.” Lucifer said dismissively and he downed his drink, pouring himself another right away.

“How many siblings do you even have? I heard around school, and around town too, that your family is big, but how big?” 

“I actually have no clue. I lost count many, many siblings ago.”

“Ok, but then, how-how old are your parents if they managed to have this many kids?”

“I don't...” Lucifer said and he started laughing, “I don't actually know that either. All I know is that they're fucking ancient. Literally ancient.” he said in between giggles, continuing only after he stopped laughing:

“Also, not all of my siblings are my mother's kids. Most aren't. I don't think my mom can have kids anymore and I think it has been that way for a while. But my dad keeps having kids with some twenty-something years olds.”

“Ok, and do you know which of your siblings are your… full siblings and which are only half siblings?” Marcus asked, a grimace on his face and eyebrows furrowed.

Lucifer nodded. “Yeah, it's easy to tell. It's based on names. The ones that are my mom's are named after archangels and the rest after angels. My name sake is considered an archangel for this, despite the fact that he fell and all.” Lucifer explained and Marcus looked at him in awe.

“And does your mom know about this?” Marcus asked, now visibly baffled by what Lucifer just told him.

Lucifer nodded again. “She started the name thing. Whenever dad shows up at home with a kid he plays it off as the kid being adopted, but my mom knew that he was full of shit but… because of who and how my dad is she didn’t dare to actually say it to his face.

So she did what she could, which meant that when my dad showed up at home with my oldest brother, Amenadiel, she named him after an angel, despite her saying since literally forever that she wanted to name her kids after archangels. And then, when she had her first kid, she named him Michael. And then there's me. I am the third oldest, but I am her second child, so I was named Lucifer.

She eventually divorced my dad because of the cheating, but that only happened sometime when I was in middle school.” he explained and Marcus nodded along, although he still looked baffled by Lucifer's words.

“Ok…” Marcus said, utterly and completely confused, which amused Lucifer to no end. “But if your… half siblings…” he began after a beat, hesitating after every word- something that Lucifer found rather odd and couldn’t have ever pictured Marcus do-, “were actually adopted, would the name thing still be a… thing?”

“No.”

“And do all of your siblings… know about this?”Marcus asked, again hesitating for a second.

“No. I only know because my dad told me, otherwise I wouldn’t have known either.” Lucifer said, avoiding Marcus’ gaze as he continued: “And I really hope that the rest won’t find out, it would crush them. But, unless they are being told I don’t they’re gonna figure it out, after all she never made any differences between us.”  

“Have you seen your mom since she divorced your dad?” he asked after a beat and Lucifer shook his head.

“No. I wasn't allowed to. None if us were allowed to.” Lucifer said with a shrug.

“Do you miss her?” Marcus asked then and Lucifer shook his head, again.

“No. I think it's kind of the same thing it’s for you with your parents. I don't have the time to think about her enough to miss her.” he explained and Marcus nodded in understanding.

“I'm too busy trying to live that I don't have time to think about her. Not that I'd matter if I missed her or not, because she never did anything to help me in any way.” he added after a moment of silence and Marcus’ expression visibly softened at that.

Lucifer then took the bottle of whiskey and poured on top of his untouched drink until the glass was full and emptied it in two sips. That was too much for him to think about without drinking.

Neither got to say anything after that because the food was ready and Lucifer didn't feel like talking, while Marcus was too busy putting the food on plates and putting it on the table to cool off a bit to talk.

“Would you mind telling me about your parents?” Lucifer after they both had two drinks each, in a perfect but very heavy silence, and Marcus hummed.

“Sure. What do you wanna know?” Marcus answered and Lucifer was glad that Marcus didn't ask him why he wanted to know, because he didn't have an answer to that question.

“I don't know, anything. What were they like? Were they good parents? Where did they work?” Lucifer asked and he stopped himself before asking the question that even he had admit was too much.

“Well, they were really religious, so was my whole family, but… uhm… my family was the good kind of religious people, to say so. Like they really lived for that whole love your neighbour and always be kind stuff. And they were pretty good parents, I'd say. As for where they worked… well, they worked for your dad actually.”

“Really?”

Marcus nodded.

“Yeah, they worked for him for as long as I can remember. They were in his PR team. Then they found out that everything they were trying to hide about him was true and they quit. A week later they had a car crash and died.” Marcus explained, his tone impassive but the look in his eyes told Lucifer everything he needed to know.

“I'm sorry.” Lucifer said with a grim look on his face.

“Don't be. You didn't do anything.”

“But my dad did.”

“You personally didn't do anything and you don't have to be sorry for his actions.” Marcus reassured, putting his hand over Lucifer’s, and Lucifer nodded, smiling a half-smile.

“Thanks.” Lucifer said softly, intertwining their fingers and he almost sighed relieved when Marcus didn't take his hand away.

“Do you always apologize for the shitty things your dad does?” Marcus asked, uncharacteristically soft and, for some reason, Lucifer's heart skipped a beat.

“Yeah…” Lucifer muttered and Marcus nodded as if he finally made sense of something.

Lucifer put his head on Marcus’ shoulder, for some reason finding that he was simply exhausted.

But then, a thought crossed his mind and he perked his head up from Marcus’ shoulder, turning to Marcus and asking:

“But, did you keep your parents’ last name?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Because I think I met them. They were really nice. Way nicer than most of my dad's employees.”

“Really? Does he mix work and family like that?” Marcus asked, eyebrows furrowed.

“No. I am the only one who really got the meet everyone. He used to take me to work for him during summers. He still tries to do that, but now I have the courage to tell him no. He wants me to take over everything when I'll be older.” Lucifer explained with a shrug, but the explanation didn't help Marcus at all.

“Why you? Why not one of your older brothers? Or any of your siblings really?” Marcus asked, head tipped to the side.

“Because they are all too obedient. He wants someone who can take over and further his legacy once he dies. I don't think he is capable of dying, but that's besides the point. Anyway, they wouldn't last a day without him telling them what to do. He needs someone with a mind of their own and that's me.” Lucifer said, forcing a small smile.

“But he didn't take it into consideration that you might want to do something else? Or the fact that you might turn out to be a cupcake?” Marcus asked, Lucifer glaring at him.

“What do you mean with that?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I mean you're… not like him. You're nice and you have morals, unlike him.” Marcus explained and despite the fact that Lucifer could argue with some of the points Marcus made, he agreed with the main idea, so he still leaned back against the counter, pleased with Marcus’ answer.

“Fair enough.” he said after a moment. “And you're right, he didn't consider those possibilities. He assumed that because he raised me, which he really did not given that I see him only twice a year, I would turn out like him. But I didn't.”

“But, since you don't want to be… well, whatever the fuck your dad is, what do you wanna do?” Marcus asked, glancing briefly in Lucifer's direction.

“I wanna be an actor, on Broadway.” Lucifer said proudly, pouring himself a drink and quickly drinking it. “What about you?” he asked, once the burn of the drink faded away.

“I'm not sure. It's not like it matters anyway, I can't even go to college.” Marcus said with a shrug, but despite his cool attitude towards the situation, Lucifer was almost sure that he wasn't so ok with it.

“Why not?”

“Because I got expelled from my precious school, so no college would accept me.” Marcus explained, same tone as before and at that point Lucifer was sure that the situation bothered Marcus.

“Really? Why? What did you do so bad?” Lucifer asked, turning to look at Marcus.

“I got into a pretty bad fight, on the school grounds.” he explained, not meeting Lucifer's eye.

Lucifer nodded in acknowledgement and he decided right then and there that he was gonna make sure that Marcus went to college, a good one too.

Marcus then poured himself a drink and downed it in one sip, eyes cast downwards afterwards, still holding the glass in his hand and Lucifer's heart broke at the sight.

So he wrapped an arm around Marcus’ waist, pulling Marcus close to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. And Marcus looked so exhausted in that moment, Lucifer realized, and that made the two of them so alike in that moment, despite all of their differences.

Marcus leaned into Lucifer's embraced and put his head on Lucifer's shoulder, closing his eyes and sighing.

Lucifer sighed too, because he couldn't do anything else. He wanted to scream and cry- but he simply didn't have the energy for it- because both of their lives were so fucked up, way too fucked up.

He glanced at Marcus and then he looked down at himself and in that moment he realized how grown up they both were, despite how young they were, and he realized just how wrong it was.

They were teenagers, they were practically kids, they shouldn't have to worry (at least not in the way they do), they shouldn't have to fight everyday just to survive (sure, they fought in two very different ways, but in one way maybe it wasn't so different and it was just as wrong anyway).

But, his dark realization also made him realize something else: the fact that Chloe was right a few days ago when she talked about them having more things in common than they thought. Of course, being way too grown up for your age wasn't exactly a good thing, but it was still something. And it also made him realize that maybe Chloe was right and in some way maybe they did belong together.

He tried not to think about the latter tho, as he couldn't do that to himself. He couldn't make himself suffer like that. Because he knew that despite the fact that  _he_ caught feelings, Marcus still saw this whole thing as a business transaction, which is exactly what it was.

And so silence fell between them for what seemed like millennia, but it wasn't a comfortable silence. It wasn't an uncomfortable one either, but rather a dark and heavy one. It was a silence that put a cloud over Lucifer's head and pressed against his chest and his back, making it seem almost impossible to breathe and Lucifer wondered if Marcus felt the same way, but he didn't say anything.

There was nothing to say, anyway. Nothing that either of them didn't already know or felt.

Marcus reached for Lucifer's hand at some point during their long silence and Lucifer promptly reached back and held Marcus’ hand.

“Can we eat? I'm starving.” Marcus said after another while, breaking the silence and it was almost as if he lifted a weight off Lucifer.

“Sure. What did you eat today?” Lucifer asked, getting himself way too invested, but he didn't care in that moment.

Marcus furrowed his eyebrows. “Half of your lunch.” he said after a beat and he sat down, Lucifer staying across the table from him.

Lucifer gasped. “That's all?” he asked with a grimace and Marcus nodded.

“Do you always eat like this?” Lucifer asked then, giving his best to sound calm and not yell at Marcus for neglecting himself like that.

“Yes. I normally only eat during the lunch break at school. I already wake up at five am to work out every single day and I don't have the time for breakfast without being late. Then after school I only have one hour before I go to work and I do homework during that time. And then I come home late from work and I'm too exhausted to do anything. Usually I'd be asleep by now, you know.” Marcus explained, and Lucifer realized that maybe he didn't come off as calm as he thought he did, since Marcus felt the need to justify himself.

“You need to eat! Three meals everyday! And you're an athlete too, so you need to eat more than the average person!” Lucifer said, trying to keep his voice low, but still sharp and cutting, making it clear that just because he wasn't shouting it didn't mean that he wasn't mad.

“As if you do that.” Marcus hissed, glaring at Lucifer with a glare so intense that it could cut glass.

“Actually I am.” Lucifer said matter-of-factly and Marcus eyed him suspiciously.

“Having a fridge in my room helps.” Lucifer added with a shrug, Marcus sighing.

“I'm gonna pretend you didn't just say that.”

“Why?”

“Because that is the most spoiled, rich kid thing I've ever heard in my life.”

Lucifer chuckled.

“And what's so bad about that?” Lucifer asked, tone lighthearted and a glint of amusement in his eyes.

“Have you ever met any rich kid that comes from a normal family?”

Lucifer gave the question a thought and then he grimaced. “You know what… I see your point now.” he said and Marcus hummed approvingly.

“You've changed the subject!” Lucifer said moments later once he realized that he got tricked, and Marcus only shrugged in response.

“Maybe.” he said and he took a bite from his food, and despite it all Lucifer found himself grinning because Marcus sounded amused and there was a glint in his eyes and Lucifer could've melted right then and there.

“I still stand by what I said earlier.” was all Lucifer said, oddly grim given that the issue shouldn't have really concerned him and he glanced down at his food- not because he wanted to eat, but just to avoid Marcus' gaze. Because he shouldn't care, but he does, a little too much too.

Marcus paid Lucifer a short glance, but he didn't say anything. It was almost as if a cloud was over his head all of sudden and Lucifer felt bad. He didn't mention it tho, instead choosing to start to eat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This got dark real fast, huh? I promise next chapter will be less... dark... same for chapter 6.  
> (and no, i didn't cry while writing towards the end, not at all)
> 
> (edit: a small mistake, aka me not being clear enough, was pointed out to me so obviously i had to correct it)


	5. Chapter 5

Lucifer hummed pleased as Marcus trailed a line of kisses across his back, grinning when Marcus gave him a kiss on his temple.

“I know you're awake, Lucifer.” Marcus said, very clearly annoyed, but despite that Lucifer had a feeling that Marcus actually enjoyed that. He didn't hang on that feeling tho, because it was nothing more than wishful thinking.

“What gave me away?” Lucifer said, opening his eyes only to meet Marcus’ blue ones and his heart, unfortunately, skipped a beat.

Marcus raised his eyebrows and tipped his head to the side. “What do you think?”

Lucifer chuckled and he cupped Marcus’ face with his hand, leaning in until their lips touched. Marcus quickly backed up, Lucifer groaning, eyes closed and his eyebrows furrowed. Marcus gave him a small peck on the lips at that, Lucifer smiling softly before opening his eyes and looking at Marcus.

“You know…” Lucifer began, his tone so sweet it could give cavities, “I don't think I'm quite ready to get out of bed yet.” he practically purred, gently caressing Marcus’ cheek.

“As much as I'd love to help you out with that, we don't have the time.”

“Wh…” Lucifer began, but he remembered something right before finshing his question, “oh… the game was today, wasn't it?” he asked, voice barely above that of a whisper, and Marcus only nodded.

“We're not late, are we?”

“No, but we're gonna be if you don't get out of bed.” Marcus said and he stood up.

Lucifer sighed. “Fine,” he whined, but he got out of bed nevertheless. He then gave Marcus a quick peck on the lips before heading for the bathroom.

He quickly went through his morning routine, leaving the bathroom in about ten minutes and then he quickly got dressed, wearing yesterday's pants and one of Marcus' shirts- he was gonna change his clothes later anyway, so it didn't really matter what he wore in that moment and he also didn't have the energy to sit and button up his own shirt.

He then tucked his shirt and jacket in his backpack, placing it next to the door before making a beeline for Marcus and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“Oohh, you made breakfast!” Lucifer said cheerfully and he took a piece of toast from the plate besides Marcus, sipping from the mug of coffee that was next to the plate afterwards.

As soon as he tasted the coffee tho he grimaced, setting it down, his face that of pure disgust.

“That's mine.” Marcus explained and he handed Lucifer another mug, the coffee in that mug being a light brown, unlike Marcus’ coffee which was pitch black.

“I figured.” Lucifer groaned and he took the mug Marcus offered him, sipping from it and smiling as soon as he tasted it and it was sweet. “This is so, so much better.” he hummed, pleased.

Marcus took a sip from his own coffee, and Lucifer could've sworn he saw Marcus smile, but since the mug covered his mouth he couldn't properly tell so he tried not to think about it. Except that he couldn't stop thinking about it despite his best efforts.

While they ate breakfast Lucifer listened to Marcus talk about his strategy for the game, and, despite the fact that he barely understood a thing, he gave Marcus his full attention.

Three weeks ago he would’ve just tuned it out, but now he was too smitten not to listen to every word Marcus said like his life depended on it, but of course, Marcus didn't know that so he was surprised when Lucifer started asking questions.

Nevertheless, Marcus answered all of Lucifer's questions, explaining everything in great detail and, in the end, Lucifer concluded that he made a good choice when he chose theater as his extracurricular activity.

Marcus rolled his eyes at that, but there wasn't a single bit annoyance in it, or so Lucifer thought (hoped).

“Shall we go?” Lucifer asked after they finished washing the dishes.

“Just a second.” Marcus responded and he headed for the bedroom, returning with one of the football team’s varsity jackets, which Lucifer knew has never been worn.

Marcus never wore the team jacket, he always wore his leather jacket.

“Since you're my boyfriend and all, you should have this.” he said and Lucifer grinned as he took the jacket from Marcus and put it on right away.

It was too big for him, like all of Marcus’ clothes were, and he hugged it tightly against his body, all while beaming.

Marcus raised his eyebrows at that, clearly not understanding Lucifer's enthusiasm, but he didn't say anything- instead he kissed Lucifer and for a second it felt so, so real. So real that Lucifer’s heart broke when Marcus parted their lips and he remembered that it was all fake.

“Ready to go or do you need a few more minutes?” Marcus teased and Lucifer couldn't help but laugh, all of his previous sadness gone just as quickly as it came.

“We can go.” Lucifer said and he headed for the door, throwing his backpack over his shoulder.

They walked out of the tiny apartment, down the stairs and out of the building- building Lucifer wouldn't live in even if he was paid to- while holding hands, only letting go once they made it to Marcus’ bike.

As always Lucifer clinged tightly to Marcus, something which was unnecessary and he knew that all too well, but he didn't care. It was a valid excuse to be close to Marcus and he was gonna take all of the opportunities he could to be as close to Marcus as possible, because soon enough they won't even be talking to each other.

Marcus took Lucifer home, as they agreed the previous night, and Lucifer snuck in inside as quietly as possible and made his way to his room even more quietly. There he changed his suit pants for a pair of jeans and kept Marcus' shirt, because he actually liked how the outfit looked and, more importantly because stealing his (fake) boyfriend’s shirt was an opportunity he wasn't gonna pass up.

He got out of the house just as quietly and as quickly as he came in, giving Marcus a peck on the lips before they left and headed for the school.

When they got there the field was already swarming with people. The two held hands the whole time they made their way through the crowd and to the lockers and Lucifer wished that they could always do that. Of course, he never voiced that desire, but that didn't mean that he didn't think it.

And he thought about it long and hard the whole way to the lockers and even there he couldn't stop thinking about it as he watched Marcus change

(He watched Marcus closely, the whole time, trying to soak in as much of him as he could. He tried to take in as much as he could in the little time he had, from every inch of Marcus’ body to every little detail and mannerisms that were just specific to him, that were just so…  so… Marcus that no one else could ever mimic them even if they tried.)

and as he listened to Marcus go over the game strategy one more time.

(He listened closely despite the fact that he heard that speech already that very day because he wanted to memorize Marcus' voice and he hoped that that would be enough to get him through the rest of his life without Marcus, but he knew that it wouldn't be, nothing would be enough.)

He looked at Marcus longingly, having to stop himself from smiling when he noticed that Marcus was clearly nervous. Instead of smiling he glanced around the empty room and he had to fight his urge to smile even more afterwards, because Marcus was nervous and he showed it, something Lucifer had never seen him done.

And the thought of Marcus feeling comfortable enough to show that he nervous made Lucifer's heart soar. And the thought that he was the only one Marcus was that comfortable with made him even happier, his previous thoughts long forgotten.

“Everything's gonna be fine.” Lucifer said, interrupting Marcus’ rambling, and once he had Marcus’ attention he added, “You're gonna win, as always.” he smiled as he said that, his smile soft and he worried for a second that it gave him away.

Whether or not it normally would've given him away was up in the air, because in that moment Marcus was simply too nervous to notice anything.

“Yeah… I hope so.” he said and he slumped on the spot next to Lucifer, eyes cast down and head hung low. And Lucifer watched him, at loss of words, as he tried to make sense of what might be troubling Marcus. And, after a moment, somehow, despite Marcus not saying a thing, he knew exactly how Marcus felt like in that moment.

“You don’t have to win, you know that, right?” Lucifer said carefully and Marcus laughed, a sad and bitter laugh and most certainly not the first laugh Lucifer wanted to hear from Marcus, quite the opposite actually.

“Actually, I do.” Marcus answered and he glanced briefly at Lucifer, before glancing back down and sighing. “Everyone expects me to win,” he said and he looked straight ahead, “so I kind of have to.”

Marcus opened his mouth to add something else, but he closed it back a beat later, staring at the wall of lockers in front of him or rather right through it, deep into thought. “Never losing is nice until it isn’t.” He added after several long moments of silence and Lucifer understood exactly what he meant.

“Never losing is nice until everyone expects you to always win.” Lucifer said, almost quieter than a whisper, but he knew that Marcus heard him. “Doing everything right is nice until everyone starts expecting you to be perfect all the time.” he added and Marcus looked at him, sighing before looking back down.

“You don't have to win.” Lucifer said after a beat and Marcus nodded. “You're gonna do great regardless of whether or not you win.” he added and he held Marcus’ hand.

Marcus only nodded, again, but he didn't cheer up, not even a little bit. So Lucifer got up, squatting down so that he met Marcus' gaze and he cupped Marcus’ face with his hands as gently as he could as if Marcus would break if he was anything other than gentle.

“You're an excellent player with a team full of other excellent players, you trained hard and you have a bulletproof strategy, there is no reason for you not to win. And even if you don't, it's ok, no one will crucify you, I'll make sure of it.” he said, softly, and he pulled Marcus in for a small kiss, and that kiss said more than Lucifer ever actually would.

“Thank you.” Marcus muttered against Lucifer's lips and Lucifer smiled, trying to keep his posture despite being a mess on the inside.

“Don't thank me. We're in this together, at least for now.” he said, caressing Marcus’ face and Marcus leaned into his touch.

“I guess we are…” Marcus said, at last opening his eyes and meeting Lucifer's gaze. “I should get going now. I'll see you afterwards.” he added, a small smile on his face and Lucifer grinned.

“A good luck kiss before you go?” Lucifer asked, jumping to his feet when Marcus stood up and leaning in close until their lips almost touched.

Marcus smiled and he leaned in until their lips touched. They both reached for the other right away, to pull them closer and closer until there was no space left between them and they kissed and kissed until they were both breathless.

When they pulled away they were both panting and grinning and Lucifer just couldn't take his eyes off Marcus. And in that very moment he discovered that seeing Marcus smiled was the most beautiful sight and he also discovered that he wanted to see that sight for the rest of his life.

Sadness quickly washed over him at that thought, but he didn't let his smile fall, Marcus needed his support and his good mood and he wasn't gonna let his fantasies get in the way of that. Because that's what most of his thoughts regarding Marcus were lately, fantasies.

They were all pure fiction, but despite that he couldn't stop thinking about them. He couldn't stop dreaming of all the possibilities of what could've been if the circumstances were different.

Marcus gave Lucifer one quick peck on the lips and then he ran out of the room, leaving Lucifer alone with blushing cheeks, freshly kissed lips, a jacket way too large for him and a room that for the normal eye would be empty but for Lucifer it was full of possibilities, of what ifs, of heart break.

Lucifer headed out of the building and into the bleachers, taking his usual spot between Chloe and Maze, all while clutching at Marcus’ jakcet and wrapping it tightly against his body.

“You alright?” Chloe asked as soon as Lucifer sat down and he smiled softly at her. She always saw right through him, same for Maze, and he both loved and dreaded that about his two best friends.

“Yes.” he said and he shook his head. “I'm just… nervous, I guess. Marcus was nervous earlier and I managed to calm him down, but looks like I am the nervous one now.” he said with a laugh and Chloe smiled at him.

“It's gonna be ok. There's no way they're not winning.” she reassured him and Lucifer nodded, although winning was the last thing on his mind and he much more worried about Marcus’ mental state. 

Of course, Marcus and the team won, not that Lucifer was expecting anything less from his (fake) boyfriend. Still, seeing the final score made him giddy and he ran as fast as he could to meet with his (fake) boyfriend before Marcus went to the lockers.

He pulled a very confused Marcus into a bear hug as soon as he caught up with him, Marcus shyly returning the hug and Lucifer chuckled at that. He then kissed Marcus and Marcus eagerly kissed back.

“Honey!” Lucifer practically shouted after they pulled away, hugging Marcus again. “I told you everything was gonna be fine.” he added quietly, just for the two of them.

“You did.” Marcus admitted, pulling Lucifer closer and nuzzling his head against Lucifer's shoulder. “But I think you should let go now. I'd like to take a shower. We'll talk afterwards, ok?” he asked softly and Lucifer reluctantly let go of Marcus.

Marcus smiled briefly at Lucifer afterwards and then he left, leaving Lucifer a mess because that small smile, while it may have lasted only for few moments, was absolutely breathtaking.

“Lucifer, you alright?” Chloe asked, tapping him on the shoulder and Lucifer almost jumped, completely lost in thought.

“Yes,” he said too quickly, clearly both from his body language and his tone that was in alert, “yes, I'm fine. I just… got distracted.” he finished and Chloe tipped her head to the side and gave him a look that made her look like she knew something he didn't.

He didn't bother questioning her, instead they both went back into the bleachers, where they found Ella and Maze having a heated discussion about… well, only they knew what it was about. And Linda, who was trying to make peace.

By the time Marcus and Dan showed up they made peace, or rather, they stopped talking because apparently they had an argument just for the sake of it and they were completely fine. Linda, Chloe and Lucifer were all puzzled by that, but Lucifer didn't give it much thought. Maze had a habit of having unusual friendships with people.

“Hey, honey!” Lucifer said cheerfully as Marcus sat besides him and Lucifer quickly sat on Marcus’ lap, something he started doing quite often lately, and Marcus rolled his eyes, but he was also smiling so he couldn't have been _that_ annoyed.

“Someone's in a good mood.” Lucifer commented, grinning from ear to ear and Marcus kissed his cheek.

“Can you blame me? I had a great day.”

Lucifer chuckled. “What if I were to ruin it?”

“There's nothing you could do that would ruin my day.” Marcus said and for some reason, that clearly seemed to escape Lucifer, everyone looked at them in that moment.

“What if I told you you had to come to a party with me today?” Lucifer said with a smug grin on his face, because he was sure that he proved Marcus wrong.

Marcus sighed. “Well, you're pretty good, but you didn't ruin my day, not really. And I'll come to the party with you.” he said, clearly not pleased at the end, and Lucifer's grin fell.

“Really?”

Marcus nodded. “But…” he began and it was Lucifer's turn to sigh, because of course there was a but, “I get a pass on the next one.”

“Fine.” Lucifer said, crossing his arms over his chest with a huff. He was gonna make Marcus change his mind later.

“Anyway, we need to celebrate your victory, so let's go!” he added moments later, before standing up and practically dragging Marcus along as he made his way off the bleachers.

He paid his goodbyes to his friends as he passed by them and then he turned to Marcus, who by then caught up with Lucifer.

“Aren't we going to that party tonight solely to celebrate?” he asked and Lucifer laughed at that.

“Yes, but you're not very keen about that, are you?” he asked, a mischievous glint in his eyes, which was matching his smirk. “Plus, I think you deserve more than that.” he practically purred, taking his gaze off Marcus, and he could feel Marcus’ gaze burning onto him, which made him smirk even more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know i posted this late and i'm sorry. i kept being dragged out of the house and when i got back home i was too tired to post, but now it's here... and it's the last chapter until christmas. my semestrial papers (basically the tamer and high school equivalent of midterms) begins next week for me and i don't think i'll have time to write and i don't wanna get behind on this but i also don't want my (surprisingly) good grades to drop, so i'll see y'all in a month when my schedule is gonna clear out a bit and i'll have time to write.


	6. Chapter 6

Lucifer grinned as Marcus wrapped around Lucifer's shoulders his leather jacket, kissing his (fake) boyfriend’s cheek as he slipped his arms through the jacket's sleeves.

He then measured Marcus with his eyes, basically checking him out, a pleased smirk on his face, but his smirk fell when he noticed that Marcus was anything but pleased.

“I don't understand what your problem is. You look…” he began and he looked Marcus up and down again, again very pleased at the sigh before him, “handsome is an understatement for how good you look.” he concluded and Marcus sighed.

“If you say so.” Marcus said, looking anywhere but at Lucifer and there was something in his voice that Lucifer couldn't piece together. He, of course, didn't give it much thought as he did with everything about Marcus that puzzled him.

“Can we go?” Marcus asked a moment later, continuing when Lucifer raised his eyebrows at him: “The sooner we go the faster we get back.”

Lucifer chuckled and then he checked his watch and once he decided that he was fashionably late enough he nodded. “We can go. We are late enough to turn all heads when we'll get there… or, well, even more than we already would.” he said and he took Marcus’ hand, Marcus not objecting to that as it already became routine for them to hold hands whenever they went somewhere.

When they got to the party all eyes were on them, as Lucifer both expected and wanted, and Lucifer grinned, practically glowing from all the attention he got both from the others but more so from his boyfriend, who kept glancing in his direction.

“Stay here and I'll go fetch us something to drink.” he said once he found a quieter spot, and he kissed Marcus’ cheek. “I'll be right back, don't worry. I won't leave you alone.” he added and then he gave Marcus a small peck on the lips, and Marcus looked anything but pleased as Lucifer walked away.

“So you convinced him to give you his precious jacket?” Maze asked as soon as Lucifer reached the bar and Lucifer laughed at that.

“Oh, no, I convinced him to exchange jackets.” Lucifer said with a proud smirk and he tipped his head in Marcus’ direction and Maze started laughing. “He hates it!” Lucifer added and Maze found that absolutely hilarious.

“You really have him whipped, huh?” she asked, like she knew something that Lucifer was supposed to know, but truth be told he had no idea what he was supposed to know.

“I guess I do.” he said with a small smile and oh, how he wished that Maze was right.

“You doin’ alright?” Maze asked and Lucifer smiled, a sad smile, and he wished that sometimes Maze wouldn't be able to read him so well.

“Yeah, just a little tired. I'll be fine after a few drinks.” he said, waiting a moment before asking: “Are _you_ alright? You look pretty tired too.”

Maze waved a hand dismissively. “I'm just a little tired too. I'll be fine after a few drinks as well.” she said and Lucifer could tell that she was holding something back.

“Did your mom call?” he asked, Maze froze for a moment before relaxing again.

She sighed. “Yes.” she said, face stoic, almost as if she talked about someone who died and not about her own living mother calling her.

“What did she say?” he asked, suddenly just as stoic as Maze, since he knew by now how disappointing Maze's discussion with her mother could be.

“Just the usual. She sent me some money that should last me until God knows when, she has a new husband and she's not coming home for Christmas.” Maze said, as nonchalant as she could, but Lucifer knew better than to buy into that. Still, he didn't mention it.

He knew that Maze wasn't indifferent- as she pretended to be-  to her mother never being there and Maze knew that he knew that and that was more than enough.

“She has a new husband? What happened to the last one?” Lucifer asked, trying to focus on anything other than Maze's clear (at least to him) sadness and bitterness.

“He's probably dead in a ditch or something.” Maze said with a shrug and that was genuine as she never cared for her “step-fathers” since they were gone just as fast as they came.

“Most likely.” Lucifer commented, leaning onto the bar and resting his chin into his palm. “Wanna have a drink?” he asked and that definitely piqued Maze's interest.

“What do you think?” she asked and she reached for two cups before starting to look through the bar for something stronger than beer.

She eventually found the good stuff and poured both of them vodka, almost filling both glasses. They had a toast for their future hangover selves who won't be regretting any of this despite the hangovers and they had a good laugh and then they both took a swing from their drinks, downing about half of their drinks.

Maze refilled their drinks afterwards, both grinning ear to ear.

“Where is Chloe?” Lucifer asked, searching the crowd for his other best friend.

“She's driving.” Maze explained and Lucifer pouted.

“Oh... is there something without alcohol for my beloved boyfriend?” Lucifer asked, only then remembering about Marcus. “He drives too.” he explained a moment later as Maze offered him a cup of soda.

“Thank you, Mazikeen! I'll be back, I need to go to my boyfriend. I can't leave him alone, if I do he's just gonna sulk the whole night in a corner.” Lucifer said with a pout and then he made his way through the crowd to Marcus, who, as predicted, was sulking in a corner.

“Can you at least pretend that you don't loathe this?” he asked as he sat on Marcus’ lap, offering him the cup with the soda and then taking a sip from his own cup.

Marcus sipped from his drink, still looking miserable as he did so, and Lucifer pouted.

“Sorry, parties are really not my thing. I'd rather be anywhere else right now.” Marcus said, with a sigh, and Lucifer kissed his cheek.

“That's why I'm not leaving you alone.” Lucifer said and he lightly bopped Marcus’ nose, a grin on his face. “I don't wanna see you sulking in a corner the whole night.” he added, his grin falling and he put his head on Marcus’ shoulder.

“And what could I possibly do?” Marcus asked, obvious from his tone that he wasn't really interested, he just gave up trying to argue with Lucifer.

“You could dance with me.” Lucifer said right away, as he already thought about the answer to that question earlier that day, but he quickly dropped the idea when Marcus grimaced.“The team also has this cute tradition of having a toast for the victory and taking a shot. You're not a lightweight so one shot should be ok. Plus, it would be nice if the captain said the toast for once.” he added and it seemed like Marcus liked that idea better.

That at least until...

“It would be irresponsible of me to drink, Lucifer.” Marcus said, sounding, quite frankly, tired of Lucifer's shit, and Lucifer pouted at his boyfriend before sitting up properly and taking a swing from his drink.

“It's just one shot. You can take a shot of water if you're really this boring.” he argued, determined to get Marcus to do at least one thing other than brooding in a corner.

“I… I'm not that boring. I'll take the fucking shot.” Marcus said, not even bothering to further argue his point, and he rolled his eyes, giving Lucifer a kiss when Lucifer cheered up.

“Thank you.” Lucifer said sweetly, kissing Marcus’ cheek and finishing his drink before nuzzling close to Marcus.

Marcus nodded, although he was clearly not pleased, but that was a problem for later.

“I need another drink. Come with me, please!” he said, after glancing at his empty cup, tugging at Marcus’ arm.

“Sure.” Marcus said and he didn't even get to finish that Lucifer was already on his feet and dragging Marcus across the room, to the bar.

Lucifer grinned at Maze as soon as he got to the bar, placing his cup down and Maze refilled it without Lucifer even saying a word.

“Isn't that a bit too much?” Marcus asked as he glared at the almost full cup.

Lucifer waved a hand dismissively. “Oh, no, I'll finish it in no time.” Lucifer said and Marcus looked straight up horrified.

“Lucifer, maybe you shouldn't drink so much.” Marcus said slowly, looking Lucifer straight in the eye.

“Don't worry, I don't drink more than I can handle.” Lucifer reassured, his hand on Marcus’ shoulder, and he kissed Marcus’ cheek before taking Marcus’ hand and dragging him along as he started searching the crowd for more familiar faces.

Marcus grimaced at that, his expression that of clear disgust and Lucifer was sure that Marcus was counting the seconds until he never had to speak to Lucifer again. Lucifer slowed down a little as the thought hit him, but he took a swing from his drink and picked up the pace again before Marcus could question him.

After a few moments tho, Lucifer spotted Dan and Charlotte, along with the rest of the football team, and he made a beeline for them, sitting next to Charlotte and pulling Marcus, who looked just miserable, next to him.

Lucifer sighed at the sight of his boyfriend and he leaned in until only Marcus could hear him. “Can you please not look so miserable?” he asked and he scooted closer to his boyfriend until their shoulders touched.

“Could you please stop dragging me around with you? It's tiring.” Marcus said and Lucifer gave it a thought before agreeing.

Marcus smiled at that, although briefly, but it was enough to make Lucifer down the rest of his drink. Lucifer excused himself and he went to get another drink and once he returned he settled on nuzzling up to Marcus and telling Charlotte everything that went down at that day's match.

He happily gushed about his boyfriend, who just rolled his eyes although his smile gave him away that he was enjoying the praise, and he also complimented the way Dan played, since he knew that that was what Charlotte really cared about. After all, Charlotte was just as interested in football outside her boyfriend as he was.

Eventually the rest of the team spotted Marcus, which was followed by curious gazes and lots of whispering, and that seemed to kill Marcus' mood, which inevitably also killed Lucifer's mood.

“What happened?” Marcus muttered in his ear and he wrapped an arm around Lucifer's shoulders and lightly squeezed his shoulder, the small gesture making Lucifer forget all about his sadness in its casual intimacy.

“You're mad.” Lucifer said, looking at Marcus with the corner of his eye and Marcus sighed before kissing Lucifer's temple.

“Just annoyed, it'll pass when _they_ will stop talking about me.” Marcus said and he tipped his head in the direction of his teammates.

Lucifer sipped from his drink. “They won't stop. And it's not just them talking, everyone does. How couldn't they? You showed up to the party, which is a miracle in itself, two hours late and with your boyfriend on your arm. And that combination is a guaranteed recipe to having people talk about you.” he argued and he nuzzled against Marcus, putting his head on Marcus’ shoulder.

“Let them talk. You're here with me and that's the only thing that matters.” he added as soon as he noticed that Marcus didn't cheer up, not even a little bit.

“I'm not here _with_ you, I'm here _because_ of you.” Marcus pointed out, but his tone was lighthearted and Lucifer knew that he managed to cheer him up just from that fact alone.

“And I'm very glad that you accepted to come with me, despite hating all of this.” Lucifer said softly, placing one small kiss in the crook of Marcus' neck, earning a pleased hum from his boyfriend.

Lucifer smiled and everything faded away as he glanced in his boyfriend's direction and intertwined their hands, and then their fingers aswell. His grip on Marcus’ hand was tight and Marcus responded by squeezing Lucifer's hand three times and Lucifer didn't want that moment to end.

Lucifer closed his eyes and he tried to soak it all in, enjoying every bit of it and wishing that he could have such private moments in crowded rooms with Marcus for the rest of the life, and he tried not to think about the reality, letting himself dream for a moment.

It was about an hour later that the football team made their victory toast and for once it was lead by the captain, Marcus looking at Lucifer the entire time which made the speech he gave absolutely irrelevant to Lucifer.

“You did wonderful, honey!” Lucifer said as soon as the toast ended and he was back to Marcus' side, giving him a quick kiss on the lips.

Marcus grimaced at that. “I wanted to do that.” he said and then, for a fleeting moment, he smiled and Lucifer just couldn't help grinning, cligning to Marcus’ arm as they settled back on the couch, Lucifer sitting on Marcus’ lap.

“I can't convince you to dance with me, can I?” Lucifer asked with a pout after a few moments.

“No.” Marcus said dryly and Lucifer groaned, letting his head fall on Marcus’ shoulder.

“Well then, I'm gonna go and have fun. Could you please try not to look like you'd rather be dead than be here?” Lucifer asked sweetly and Marcus smiled and gave Lucifer a quick kiss, Lucifer melting as he could feel Marcus’ smile against his lips.

“It'll be hard, but I'll try.” Marcus responded, his lips still pressed against Lucifer's.

“Thanks.” Lucifer said with a smile and he gave Marcus one last kiss before getting up and mingling with the crowd.

For the next two hours he had his fun, drinking and dancing, but he still checked on Marcus from time to time, always being met with a kiss from his boyfriend. After those two hours passed he had one too many drinks to remember to check on Marcus.

It took him a while to remember that he didn't, in fact, come alone, despite what the past few hours may have suggested, and when he did he started frantically searching for Marcus, slumping on a armchair when he ran out of places to look.

After a few moments though he spotted Marcus and he got up right away, stumbling across the crowd to meet with his boyfriend and they met halfway.

Lucifer pulled Marcus into a hug as soon as he was close enough, leaning onto him as he couldn't keep his balance in such a crowded space. Marcus returned the hug, pulling Lucifer even closer, and Lucifer put his head on Marcus shoulder.

“I searched this whole place for you, where were you?” Lucifer asked after a few moments, nuzzling against Marcus' neck afterwards.

“I was looking for you actually.” Marcus explained before pulling away from the hug and taking a good look at his boyfriend. “I was worried you might have gotten drunk and it turns out that I was right.” he added and then he stood on his tiptoes to kiss Lucifer's forehead.

He then led Lucifer across the room, back to the armchair Lucifer previously sat on and gestured for him to sit. Lucifer nodded and then he sat down, Marcus squatting down so he could meet Lucifer's gaze.

“Don't go anywhere, I'll be back in a minute.” he said slowly, holding Lucifer's hands and looking Lucifer straight in the eye.

Lucifer tipped his head to the side, utterly confused. “Why?”

“You're drunk, so I need to take you home.” Marcus explained, just as slowly as previously, but his explanation didn't help Lucifer at all.

“I need to borrow a car, Lucifer. I don't exactly trust you right now and better safe than sorry. So stay right here and I'll be right back.” Marcus further explained and only left once Lucifer nodded and promised he wasn't going anywhere.

Marcus returned shortly, just as he promised, and Lucifer jumped to his feet as soon as he spotted his boyfriend, clinging onto Marcus’ arm and leaning onto him as Marcus led them outside.

“Whose car did you borrow?” he asked as soon as they made it outside, letting go of Marcus' arm, which earned him a concerned look from Marcus.

“I can walk. It was just… really crowded inside and it made me… dizzy.” Lucifer explained, answering Marcus’ unsaid question.

Still, Marcus looked just as worried.

“I'm fine, I promise. I'm not that bad when I'm drunk.” Lucifer added, shoving his hands into his jeans’ pockets. “I shouldn't drive, but other than that I'm fine. And the driving thing is just a guess, I never tried it.” he continued and only then did Marcus seem to calm down, even if it was just a little.

“But… uhm… what about your bike?” Lucifer asked afterwards as they started searching the sea of cars for… a car, Lucifer still not knowing whose car Marcus borrowed.

“I'm gonna take you home and then come back for it.” Marcus explained, looking around for a moment before sighing and turning to Lucifer. “But… uhm, quick question, do you know which one of these cars is Decker's?”

Lucifer laughed at that, grinning at Marcus afterwards. “Yes, I do.” he said and then he started looking around again

“Found it.” he said after a moment, tugging Marcus along with him once he found what he was looking for.

“It's this one.” Lucifer said as he stopped in front of a black car, a smile on his face as he shamelessly gazed lovingly at his boyfriend, despite there being no audience to see that.

Marcus didn’t say or do anything for a few seconds, he just stared at the car, completely dumbstruck, which made Lucifer giggle.

“Ok, I get it now, all of your friends are rich.” he said eventually, Lucifer full on laughing at that. Marcus watched him laugh with a look that Lucifer couldn't pinpoint and then he unlocked the car and he opened the door for Lucifer, which left Lucifer with a warm feeling inside as he got in the car.

The drive home was silent, Lucifer mostly just admiring Marcus, both because he was absolutely smitten and because he had never seen Marcus drive a car before.

Lucifer sighed as soon as Marcus parked in front of Lucifer's house, dreading the fact that he had to go home, and he let his head rest against his seat.

“You alright?” Marcus asked slowly, his voice barely above that of a whisper.

“I don't wanna go home.” Lucifer said and he raised his palm, gesturing for Marcus to stop talking before Marcus even got any words out. “I hate it here.”

“I know…” Marcus muttered, eyes cast down. “But it would be irresponsible of me to take you anywhere else, unfortunately.”

“So you're responsible again, huh?” Lucifer asked, turning his head to look at his (fake) boyfriend.

“I have to be.” Marcus said, avoiding Lucifer's gaze. “One of us needs to be the responsible one and since it's not you, it has to be me.”

“I'll check on you in the morning, I promise. I'll even make you some of those cookies you like.” Marcus said, in an obvious attempt to bribe Lucifer into going inside.

Luckily for Marcus, Lucifer was fairly easy to bribe if you knew what to offer him, and Marcus knew exactly what to offer him.

“Fine. But I'd like both salted caramel cookies and chocolate chip ones.” Lucifer said and Marcus nodded, before getting out of the car.

He opened the door for Lucifer again, which made Lucifer grin from ear to ear. Marcus smiled softly at him offering his arm for Lucifer to lean on and Lucifer accepted the offer, despite not needing the support.

“Where was your room, again?” Marcus whispered when they almost made it to the door.

“The basement.” Lucifer whispered in response, which earned him a concerned look from Marcus. Almost anything related to his family earned him that look.

Lucifer unlocked the door, trying not to make any noise so he wouldn't wake up any of his siblings. He just wasn't in mood to deal with them, even more so than usually.

“Be quiet. We can't wake anyone up.” Lucifer warned Marcus with a glare as soon as he unlocked the door and Marcus only nodded.

And Marcus listened as he didn't make a single sound as the two made their way to the basement, although Marcus seemed clearly shocked by something in that house.

“Your house is so big.” Marcus remarked as soon as he closed the basement door and Lucifer laughed at that.

“And yours is so tiny.” Lucifer remarked and he clung to Marcus' arm.

“You alright?” Marcus asked, eyebrows furrowed.

“Stairs and crowded places make me dizzy when I'm drunk.” Lucifer explained and Marcus gave him a weird look before shaking his head and dropping whatever he was thinking about.

Marcus helped Lucifer down the stairs and Lucifer decided that the situation was not so bad after all since it gave him a reason to cling onto Marcus as if his life depended on it. And in a way it did because they've been faking a relationship for three weeks and Lucifer already couldn't picture his life without Marcus in it.

As soon as they made it down the stairs Lucifer looked around a little before pulling Marcus towards the left corridor, which was the one that led to his room.

“Where does the other corridor lead?” Marcus asked, clearly still shocked by well, most likely everything.

“My dad's _second_ office.” Lucifer responded, his emphasis on the word ‘second’ telling Marcus everything he needed to know.

“Are you always this… this coherent when you're drunk?”Marcus asked with a certain curiosity, or maybe it was confusion, but most likely a little bit of both.

“Yes. I'm not that bad when I'm drunk, you know, but I have horrible hangovers.” Lucifer said, smiling briefly in Marcus’ direction, and he opened the door to his room, leaving Marcus absolutely speechless as they stepped inside.

“Now you get why I think your apartment is so small?” Lucifer asked as he took off his jacket and threw it on the couch.

“Yeah.” Marcus said as he looked around the room in awe and Lucifer took that opportunity to admire Marcus with the most loving gaze he could muster.

Marcus shook his head moments later. “I can admire your room later, you have to go to bed now.” he said, Lucifer groaning at that before taking off his shoes and leaving them by the couch.

“You sure you can't stay any longer?” Lucifer asked sweetly and he rolled his eyes as soon as he saw the look on Marcus’ face.

“Ok, fine, I get it, you can't stay.” Lucifer said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Could you please at least rescue me from this hell first thing in the morning?” Lucifer asked, his tone angry and bitter more than anything else, and he glanced around the room as if he was afraid of someone hiding in the shadows.

Which he was. He always lived with fear and paranoia in that house and ever since the letters incident it just turned worse as he realized that not even in his secluded room was he safe.

“Sure.” Marcus said, walking up to Lucifer and kissing his temple. “Do you have any water around here?” he asked, a hand on the small of Lucifer's back.

Lucifer nodded. “Over there.” he said and he tipped his head in the direction of a door in the darkest corner of the room. “The door on the right.” he clarified and Marcus nodded before heading that way.

A few moments later Marcus returned with a glass of water, which Lucifer took without even being told to. He got drunk enough times to know that he needed that glass of water, which was why he drank it in one gulp.

He sat down on the couch afterwards, setting the glass on the coffee table in front of him, leaning back afterwards, a gloomy look on his face which resembled that of a sad puppy.

“Can I go to sleep now?” he asked, tone uncharacteristically cold and he knew that Marcus noticed that.

“Yes.” Marcus said, taking Lucifer's hand in his own and squeezing it lightly.

“Good night.” Lucifer said, just as cold as previously, not paying Marcus even a small glance as he got up and headed to his bed.

As he laid down he saw Marcus standing up aswell and, despite how tired he was, Lucifer didn't fall asleep right away, choosing instead to watch Marcus leave, only falling asleep once he was alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i promised to an anon on tumblr a chapter on christmas so here it is! now, this would be the moment i would say that everything is going back to normal,but thanks to the horrible, hellish, terrible, not good at all month i just had i need a little extra time so i'm gonna post the next chapter in 3 weeks, instead of 2, and everything goes back to normal afterwards! 
> 
> anyway, happy holidays y'all!


	7. Chapter 7

One disadvantage to living in a basement was that you never know what time of the day it is, which is even worse when you're hangover to hell and back. And that was exactly what Lucifer woke up to the following morning.

As soon as he opened his eyes he looked around, confused for a moment before remembering the events of the previous night. A horrible headache kicked in right away, gritting his teeth for a beat before sighing and sitting up.

He yawned and stretched as he always did and he was about to get out of bed to take some painkillers when he heard a noise, which made him stop in his tracks and made his heart skip a beat.

He slowly got out of bed, aware of his surroundings at all times and his headache long forgotten, and he looked around the room, jumping ever so slightly when he saw Marcus sitting up on the couch.

Marcus yawned and he looked around aswell, the look on his face clearly telling Lucifer that he was fully awake as soon as their gazes met.

Lucifer furrowed his eyebrows. “What are you doing here?” Lucifer asked, albeit a little harsh.

“You seemed really freaked out last night and I,” Marcus began, but he was interrupted by a yawn, “I didn't think I should leave you alone.” 

Lucifer didn't say anything at that for a moment, needing a few seconds to fully process Marcus’ words, but as soon as he did he grinned and nothing could've ruined his mood for the rest of the day, hell, even the rest of the week.

“That's really sweet of you.” he said, sitting down next to Marcus and giving him a kiss.

“Yeah, anytime, just don't mention it to anyone.” Marcus said, leaning back and resting against the couch.

“I won't, don't worry.” Lucifer said, putting his head on Marcus' shoulder, and nuzzling against him with a smile, for a moment.

Afterwards he gave Marcus a kiss on the cheek and then he headed for the bathroom, taking two painkillers, and then settling back on the couch at his (fake) boyfriend's side.

“You good?” Marcus asked and he wrapped an arm around Lucifer's shoulders.

“Yeah, I have a horrible headache, but I'll be fine in like an hour.” Lucifer answered, curling up at Marcus’ side and nuzzling against his neck.

“Anything I can do to make you feel better in the meantime?” Marcus asked softly and he kissed the top of Lucifer's head.

“Just hold me, that's more than enough.” Lucifer muttered against Marcus’ neck and he pressed a soft kiss on his (fake) boyfriend's shoulder.

“Sure, I can do that.” Marcus whispered, soft and slow, and pulled Lucifer closer to him, lightly squeezing his shoulder afterwards.

“I didn't get to make you the cookies I promised. Sorry for that. Hope it's ok if I make them today after work?” Marcus muttered after a few moments and Lucifer hummed in response, up until that point the promise Marcus made him last night completely forgotten.

“It's fine. You were busy last night. Plus, I forgot all about it until you just mentioned it.” Lucifer said, soft smile on his face and he couldn't believe how lucky he got- that, of course, if he ignored the real circumstances of his relationship with Marcus, which he really tried to do in that moment.

“Thanks for staying, really.” Lucifer added after a beat, kissing Marcus’ cheek and then his neck and then his shoulder, which earned him a pleased hum from his (fake) boyfriend.

“Sure…” Marcus said and it seemed like he wanted to say something more, but he didn't. Instead he reached for his phone, checked something- most likely the time-, and then settled back next to Lucifer, wrapping his arm around Lucifer's shoulders again and pulling Lucifer close, until Lucifer was comfortable again.

“What time is it?” Lucifer asked, his voice barely above that of a whisper, knowing that Marcus had to leave for work sooner rather than later- a moment which he dreaded with all of his being.

“Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. I have about... two more hours before I have to leave.” Marcus answered softly and Lucifer smiled, closing his eyes and fully relaxing in Marcus’ embrace.

“Wanna eat breakfast before you leave for work?” Lucifer asked after a few moments of comfortable silence, suddenly in mood to eat pancakes.

“Are you hungry?” Marcus asked, clearly seeing right through him and Lucifer both loved that and hated it, hoping that Marcus couldn't see too much through him and fear settled in him at the possibility.

“Starving.”

“How's the headache?”

“Better. And I'll be even better after I eat.” Lucifer said, sitting up properly and looking at his (fake) boyfriend.

Marcus smiled. “And what would you like to eat?” he asked, soft and an almost loving look on his face and Lucifer’s heart both melted and broke at that at the same time.

“I'm in mood for some pancakes.” Lucifer said and he realized right away that something was missing, adding as soon as he figured out what was missing: “Blueberry pancakes, actually.” 

“You have blueberries here? Because unless you do you'll have to settle for some plain ones since there are no shops open right now.” Marcus argued, tipping his head to the side and Lucifer found the sight before him so endearing that he just couldn't help himself and he kissed Marcus- just once, short and soft and loving.

Lucifer took a glance at the clock afterwards. “There are blueberries upstairs. I'll go fetch them and you stay here. My beloved siblings can't see you cause I'm really not in mood for a lecture before noon.” Lucifer explained and he kissed Marcus’ cheek before heading out of the room. 

He was sure that he heard Marcus grumble something about the shit rich people can afford, but he didn't mention it.He just quietly made his way to the kitchen, careful not to meet with anyone, and he was successful until he got to the kitchen- where Amenadiel was drinking coffee.

“Good morning, Luci. Care to tell where have you been yesterday and last night?”

“Yesterday I was the school's football match, same as half of the town.” Lucifer answered as lighthearted as possible, which was almost impossible to do and he was sure that at least some of his annoyance was obvious to his brother.

“Since when do you attend those?” Amenadiel asked casually, taking a sip from his coffee afterwards.

“Since my boyfriend is the team's captain.” 

“And last night?” Amenadiel asked, all of sudden his tone harsh and cutting, and Lucifer honestly didn't even know why he was staying and answering those dumb questions that his brother never bothered to ask before, and yet there he was: still staying and still answering the questions.

“At a party.” he said rather vaguely, but Amenadiel didn't complain so Lucifer didn't elaborate.

“When did you come home?”

“Late.”

“Was  _ Pierce  _ with you?” Amenadiel asked, something unpleasant in his tone when he mentioned Marcus and, despite expecting to enjoy it, Lucifer found himself conflicted on how he felt about that.

“Of course.” Lucifer said, Amenadiel having a disapproving look on his face and Lucifer found himself adding: “He brought me home when I got drunk.” he mentioned, for some reason finding himself in a need to defend his boyfriend. “All he did the whole night was look out for me, actually.” he added and then he took the box of blueberries out of the fridge and stormed out of the kitchen, all of the sudden furious.

“Are you alright?” Marcus asked as soon as Lucifer stormed into the room and Lucifer stopped in his tracks right then and there.

“Yeah.” Lucifer said and he shook in his head. “Amenadiel hates you.” he added, matter-of-factly, but the look on Marcus’ face told him that it didn't come out that way.

“Did he say that?” Marcus asked, head tipped slightly to the side and his tone uncharacteristically light.

“No, but he made it obvious.” Lucifer answered, slumping down on the couch next to Marcus and putting the box of blueberries on the coffee table in front of him. “He kept asking where I was yesterday and last night and… and whenever I mentioned you he-he… had this disapproving expression on his face and when he mentioned you he sounded so… so… I don't even know how to describe it but it wasn't good. Far from it.” Lucifer added, eyes cast down and fury burning bright and hot inside of him for some reason that didn't escape him but that he simply didn't want to acknowledge.

“And don't you think he's gonna tell your dad about us?” Marcus asked, putting his hand over Lucifer's, his touch gentle and it took Lucifer a few moments to realize why Marcus asked that.

“No. He wouldn't dare. Because dad would give him shit for letting me date you and he wants dad to like him so he has to solve the problem all on his own and behind dad's back.” Lucifer explained, leaning against Marcus afterwards and closing his eyes in an attempt to calm down, but it didn't help at all so a few seconds later he was on his feet and heading for the kitchen- the box of blueberries in his hand.

Marcus sighed and followed, although he still looked worried, but Lucifer didn't bring it up as he realized that nothing he was gonna say would ease Marcus’ worries.

“Want coffee?” Lucifer asked as soon as he entered his small kitchen, setting the box on one of the counters and starting to look through the rest of them for coffee and mugs.

“Is that even a question?” Marcus asked, a hint of amusement in his tone and he leaned against the wall- his arms crossed over his chest and tapping his foot, seemingly waiting for something.

“Wanna help?” Lucifer asked as soon as he realized what Marcus was waiting for exactly and Marcus was, obviously, very eager to help. 

Between the two of them the pancakes and coffees were done in no time- or they would've been if they managed to keep their hands off eachother- and they were back on the couch, eating and drinking and sharing blueberry flavoured kisses.

“We still have about an hour.” Lucifer said as soon as they finished eating, kissing Marcus and pulling him closer, his intentions very clear.

“I take it you're feeling better now?” Marcus asked, lips still pressed against Lucifer's and a smile cruled at the corners of his lips and Lucifer grinned from ear to ear at the sight before him.

“Much better and it's all thanks to you.” Lucifer said with a smile and he gave Marcus a peck on the lips.

“Thanks to me? What did I do?” Marcus asked, a glint of amusement in his eyes and a smirk on his lips.

“I have no idea, but I usually have horrible hangovers and this one wasn't no where near that bad and the only difference is that now I had you with me, so it had to be you, right?” Lucifer explained in one breath, not taking his gaze away from Marcus’ for a single moment.

“Looks like it.” Marcus muttered before giving Lucifer a small but very soft kiss.

That wasn't enough for Lucifer tho and he quickly pulled Marcus close and kissed him hungrily, Marcus giving in for a few moments before seemingly having a change of heart and leaning back the first chance he got, looking Lucifer straight in the eye as he spoke.

“We only have about an hour, Lucifer.” was all Marcus said and Lucifer smirked at that because that was far from a no, quite the opposite actually.

“True, but I don't wanna wait all day.” Lucifer argued, lightly caressing Marcus’ cheek before cupping Marcus’ face with his hand, delighted when Marcus leaned into the touch.

“I can't be late for work, Lucifer.” Marcus argued, less adamant about it then previously and Lucifer realized in that moment that if he kept it up he could convince Marcus to forget about work, but he decided against it. It simply felt wrong to do that and Marcus could actually get in trouble if he was late and Lucifer decided that he was gonna be responsible one who has the other's best interests in mind for once. 

“You're right, but I'm still gonna miss you.” Lucifer said softly and then he kissed Marcus just as softly and maybe if he was more observant he would've noticed how Marcus practically melted into his touch and into the kiss, but Lucifer was as oblivious as they come, so he didn't realize it until much, much later.

“I have my lunch break at two, you can visit me then.” Marcus muttered, giving Lucifer one small kiss before leaning back and leaning against the couch. 

“But, you know, keep in mind that I'm at work, although I guess that's a given.” he added moments later as he took one of Lucifer's hands in his own hand, intertwining their fingers, and Lucifer found himself almost staring at their intertwined hands, loving the sight of it. 

“Of course it is, even I have limits.” Lucifer said, as casually as he could and he leaned back against the couch in an attempt at seeming cool and calm and not at all like he was hurting inside.

“Just wanted to make sure.” Marcus said with a shrug and he seemed so serene in that moment and Lucifer wanted to spend all of his mornings like that and he wanted to see Marcus like that for the rest of his life. 

_ “I love you.”  _

Three words on the tip of his tongue- the first time the words crossed his mind so intensely-, but he didn't say them, needing all of his strength not to as watched Marcus make himself comfortable, closing his eyes afterwards, completely and utterly peaceful in that moment in a way that Lucifer had never seen him like before.

“You ok?” Marcus asked after a few moments of silence, squeezing Lucifer's hand lightly and opening his eyes to look Lucifer in the eye, the concerned look that Lucifer knew all too well- and that he couldn't pinpoint whether it was real or just really good acting on Marcus’ part- on his face and Lucifer furrowed his eyebrows, waiting for an explanation before answering. 

“Usually you'd be all over me by now.” Marcus added, clearing up Lucifer's confusion and Lucifer almost sighed relieved and then he smirked, a perfect and half-truthful answer already on his mind.

“Can't I admire my boyfriend?” he said, playful as ever and he curled up at Marcus' side, looking up and waiting for Marcus’ reaction, which was to look anywhere but at Lucifer and Lucifer could've sworn that Marcus was flustered.

Of course, he needed to test the theory a bit more- especially giving the fact that the idea of making Marcus flustered left him with a warm feeling inside-, and he didn't lose a single second before adding: 

“After all what's the point of dating someone if you can't admire them for hours?” he asked, softly caressing Marcus’ face and Marcus leaned in, just slightly, and he kept avoiding Lucifer's gaze afterwards, his expression strange and resembling an uncomfortable one although it didn't feel that way. 

Lucifer decided that Marcus was definitely flustered, which made him giddy, and then he remembered how Marcus did the same thing the previous evening and he just couldn't help not giving his boyfriend one passionate, loving kiss, which left Marcus even more flustered to Lucifer's delight.

But, Marcus wasn't as delighted as Lucifer by the current situation, which was very obvious from the way he rushed to get up and reach for his phone, checking the time before announcing that he should get going.

“I… I should probably get going.” 

“Why? Didn't you just say that we still have about an hour?” Lucifer asked with a pout, but Marcus didn't look at him so he couldn't have pretended to be affected by it.

“Yeah, one hour until I have to be at work. I forgot I need to shower and change my clothes.” Marcus said, putting his phone in his pocket and taking his jacket, turning to give Lucifer a kiss before heading for the door. “I'll see you later.” he added over his shoulder before leaving the room and leaving Lucifer sad, alone and heartbroken. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, an update, a little late but better late than never! From now on everything should go back to normal so expect the next chapter in 2 weeks! 
> 
> Also I didn't properly freak out about this last chapter, for some reason, but first love declaration!!! it was small and subtle and lucifer (aswell as eveyone who read it most likely) didn't get it but it was there!!! and that's what it was!!
> 
> and for things worth freaking out about this chapter: marcus stayed!!! he really did!!! and lucifer really almost said THE three words too!!!!
> 
> (in case y'all couldn't tell by now, this is definitely not a slow burn lmao)


	8. Chapter 8

Lucifer rushed to the door as soon as the bell rang, almost pushing one of his siblings out of the way as he opened the door, grinning from ear to ear once his gaze met Marcus’. He threw his arms around Marcus’ shoulders in an instant, hugging him and kissing his cheek, before finally inviting him inside.

“Thanks for coming over tonight!” Lucifer said softly as he quickly led Marcus to his room, making sure that none of his siblings managed to get ahold of him for long enough to question him.

“Of course. I can't let you by yourself now, can I?” Marcus said as nonchalant as he always was, but Lucifer knew better. 

Ever since that night a few weeks ago when Lucifer got drunk Marcus vehemently refused to leave him alone in his house and Lucifer definitely appreciated the concern. Especially since he couldn't say it didn't make a difference, he slept so much better when Marcus was around- which truly made all the difference for Lucifer, who generally barely got any sleep.

“Apparently not,” he said and he finally let go of Marcus' arm, now that the two of them were alone, and he was almost practically skipping steps- something he found himself doing way too often when he was around his (fake) boyfriend. “But, really, thanks for coming over tonight, especially since we don't even get to do anything fun.”

“Not a problem. I still have an essay to finish for Monday and I could definitely use the company.” Marcus said with a shrug and he kissed Lucifer's cheek before opening the door for his (fake) boyfriend.

Lucifer chuckled at that, going inside with a smile on his face and he headed for the kitchen. 

“Want a drink?” Lucifer asked over his shoulder as he searched the cupboards for the proper glasses for what he had in mind. 

“Yes, please!” Marcus shouted from across the room and he sounded almost too relieved, something that made Lucifer's stomach curl. The realization that the people closest to him were too grown-up for their age always made Lucifer's stomach curl and it also left a sour taste in his mouth, which he usually drowned out with alcohol. 

And that was exactly what he did in that moment too, downing a glass of wine in one gulp, before pouring another and then trying to take both the glasses and the bottle with him. Marcus came with his rescue tho, and just in time too cause he was about to drop either the bottle or one of the glasses, and Lucifer couldn't have been more grateful for that.

He kissed Marcus’ cheek lovingly as soon as the glasses and the bottle were settled on the coffee table and then he slumped down on the couch, so so exhausted after a long week. 

Marcus joined him moments later and he rested his head on Lucifer's shoulder, Lucifer not hesitating for a single moment as he wrapped an arm around Marcus' shoulders.

“Tired?” Lucifer asked, his voice barely above that of a whisper.

“Exhausted. You?” Marcus muttered, nuzzling closer to Lucifer and making himself comfortable at Lucifer's side.

“The same.” Lucifer responded, closing his eyes and the two sat like that for a few minutes, both trying to just catch their breath for a moment before going back to the million things they had to do.

After a few minutes of silence Marcus stood up and streched, Lucifer doing the same without even really thinking about it. They then both sat down, each doing their own thing, laptops on their laps, for a few hours until they were either too tired to keep going or until they finished what they were doing. Lucifer couldn't have pinpointed which it was and he was sure that Marcus felt the same.

“Wanna watch a movie?” Lucifer asked as he put his laptop on the coffee table, stretching thoroughly until his back stopped hurting and then he leaned back, glancing in Marcus’ direction. Waiting.

“Yeah, a movie doesn't sound so bad.” Marcus said, after a pause that was just about a second too long, and he leaned against the couch, looking as tired as Lucifer felt. “As long as it's nothing historical.” he added shortly after, putting his head on Lucifer's shoulder, and Lucifer smiled.

“Noted.” Lucifer said and he forced himself to reach for the remote, flicking through the channels in search for something to watch, but he came up blank. 

But then, just as he gave up, inspiration struck him.

“I… I never asked, which is rather awful of me given that I am your boyfriend and all, but I never asked what kind of movies do you like?” Lucifer asked, turning his attention from the TV and to his (fake) boyfriend. 

Marcus glanced at Lucifer for a moment at that, but he quickly looked away, hesitating as he answered: “Rom coms.” 

Lucifer blinked in surprise, for a second thinking that he misheard Marcus’ answer, but everything pointed towards the fact that he didn't. And he didn't.

“Really?” Lucifer asked, a small smile curled at the corners of his mouth and Marcus nodded, looking as embarrassed as Lucifer had ever seen him.

“Yes, really.” he added a moment later, his gaze anywhere but on Lucifer and Lucifer realized in that moment that Marcus expected Lucifer to mock him for his choice.

Lucifer sighed at that, heartbroken that his (fake) boyfriend would ever think that he'd do such thing, and then he gave Marcus one loving kiss as reassurance. The kiss seemed to get the message across as Marcus seemed to visibly calm down afterwards. 

“I’m not really familiar with the genre,” Lucifer added after a moment, “so, if you'd like, you could give me, I don't know, something like a intro course?” he said softly, nuzzling close to his (fake) boyfriend. 

“Really? You'd like that?” Marcus asked, on the edge again, and Lucifer pressed one small kiss in the crook of his neck before nuzzling closer. 

“Yes, I'd love that, but if you don't want to that's fine.” Lucifer said as nonchalantly as he could, reaching out to kiss Marcus’ cheek before making himself comfortable again. 

“I… I'd love to, I just didn't see you as the type of person that sits and watches rom coms for a whole day.” Marcus said, as nonchalant as ever but it didn't feel genuine to Lucifer for some reason that he couldn't put his finger on. 

“Maybe I am, who knows? Certainly not me and this is the perfect opportunity to find out.”

“Why are you doing this?” Marcus asked, all of the sudden defensive and Lucifer was taken aback by that for a moment. 

“Because I want to broaden my horizons and because I want to show interest in something that my boyfriend is passionate about. Are these good enough reasons?” Lucifer said after a beat, sitting up to look at Marcus. 

Marcus didn't answer, but instead he made a… well, not weird, but a rather odd face at that. Lucifer had never seen Marcus make that face before and he couldn't read it because of it, but despite that it tugged at his heartstrings for some reason. But right before he could make something out of it Marcus turned his gaze to him and he returned to his neutral expression that leaves no room for any interpretation. 

Lucifer didn't ask any further questions after that, not sure exactly how to approach the situation without making Marcus… well, not even he was sure what he was avoiding, but he was sure as hell avoiding something as they flicked through the channels together in almost complete silence. 

They ended up finding something neither of them minded to watch, or rather something that neither cared for. After all, their opinion on the movie didn't matter much as they barely watched it and instead they mostly talked and drank wine and then halfway through the movie they fell asleep cuddled on the couch.

They woke up when Marcus’ alarm rang in the morning, both of them groaning as soon as they heard the alarm. Lucifer nuzzled closer to Marcus, refusing to wake up, while Marcus struggled to reach for his phone and stop the alarm. Eventually he managed, Lucifer smiling once the room fell silent and he fell back asleep in seconds. 

When he woke up next he was in his bed and Marcus was no where to be seen, sight which left him with a heartache at the thought of Marcus leaving. But as soon as he got out of bed he managed to spot Marcus in the kitchen and that put a smile on his face.

“Morning.” Marcus greeted as soon as Lucifer entered the kitchen, smiling softly at him and, when Lucifer hugged him, he didn't hesitate to wrap an arm around Lucifer's waist and hold him close.

“Coffee? Breakfast?” he then asked, Lucifer grinning from ear to ear but it didn't take long for the reality to settle in and ruin his mood. He kept grinning tho, knowing that there was no point to dwell on his feelings. 

“I'd love a coffee.” he muttered, nuzzling closer to Marcus as he did so. “I'd love breakfast too, but we don't have time for it.” he added with a pout and Marcus kissed the top of his head and rubbed his back. 

“I know and I’m sorry for that. I would've woke you up sooner, but you were so peaceful and I… I just didn't have the heart to ruin that. But I packed you something to eat before class, if that makes you feel any better.” Marcus said and Lucifer’s ruined mood improving only for it to be ruined again a few seconds later. 

“Thanks.” was all Lucifer said, feeling like he was about to cry if he said anything more because, for some reason, the fact that Marcus made and packed him breakfast made him so indescribably sad that he felt as if he was gonna break and start crying any moment now.

He managed to make it without crying, Marcus’ amused expression at the sight of his costume managing to cheer him up just enough. 

“Are you sure you’re ok with me doing the whole costume thing with Chloe? I mean,  _ you _ are datibg me after all.” Lucifer asked as they walked into the school hand in hand. 

Marcus smiled at that. 

“It's fine by me. I don't do costumes and you want to do a couple costume, so this is great for me, actually, as you get your wish and I don't have to do… anything. Plus it's not like anyone is gonna get the wrong idea because we are attached at the hip, even more than you and Decker are.” Marcus explained with a shrug and Lucifer grinned from ear to ear. 

He then gave Marcus a kiss on the cheek and then off he was to meet with his “Juliet”, greeting Chloe as dramatically as he could- which was  _ really _ dramatic. 

He grinned even brighter than previously as he watched his friends and (fake) boyfriend’s amused reactions to that- all of them used to his antics at that point-, a warm feeling blooming inside of him and spreading through his whole body. 

Afterwards there were plenty more minutes until class started so spent those minutes eating the breakfast Marcus packed him and the warm feeling grew bigger and brighter as he did so. 

As he made his way to class he clung to Marcus, gushing about how good the food was and what a good cook Marcus was, and he enjoyed watching Marcus get flustered and in that moment everything felt just right. 

The feeling persisted throughout the day, particularly during lunch when he looked around the table and he saw that he was surrounded by all the people he loved (which meant his friends and his boyfriend), all the people he really loved and would do anything for and who would return the favour. 

His heart faltered for a brief moment when his gaze met Marcus’ and he noticed that Marcus made another expression that he couldn't read, but his joy was brought back when Marcus’ gaze softened and he wrapped an arm around Lucifer's waist. 

They then shared a small and short kiss, which earned them a glare from Dan- which, in return, made Lucifer chuckle joyfully at Dan's obvious distress and annoyance. 

“Hey, guys, what time should I pick you up tonight?” Chloe asked as she, Maze, Marcus and Lucifer made their way to class, the question directed at Marcus and Lucifer. 

Lucifer was about to say that Marcus wasn't coming, but right before Lucifer managed to say anything Marcus said: “Ten, like usually, if that's fine with you. It's late enough for Lucifer to make his big entrance.” he teased, which made Maze smile and Lucifer roll his eyes. 

“I thought you weren't coming to this one.” Lucifer said a minute later once all the details were set and Chloe and Maze headed for their class, leaving Marcus and Lucifer alone. 

“Is it a problem that I'm coming? Because if it is I can stay home.” Marcus said with a shrug as if it didn't bother him, but it didn't seem genuine. 

“No, far from it, just thought you'd rather stay at home. You said it yourself, you don't like patries and we've agreed that you would come with me only at football related parties.” Lucifer said, oddly defensive, which in retrospect wasn't that wise and he realized that when Marcus glared at him, analysing him. 

“Yes, I'd rather stay at home, but I… I'm more than willing to… put up with it if that means you're safe.” Marcus explained softly, something about the softnesswith which he said it and the seemingly genuine concern on his face that almost made Lucifer stop in his tracks. 

“Is that so?” he asked, his voice barely above that of a whisper as they sat at their desk, and Marcus nodded, his expression soft and loving and Lucifer couldn't help but kiss him.

And then, just like that, three words entered his mind and he was about to say them and voice the feelings that both helped him sleep at night and that kept him up all night, but he held back, just barely stopped himself from actually saying them. 

_ I love you… _

Because as much as he wanted to say those words- words he meant with every single bit of his very being-, he could never say them. He couldn't bear the heartbreak of watching Marcus force himself to say them back. He couldn't bear the thought of his words being returned without being meant through and through. 

And, most importantly, he couldn't bear the thought of the most sincere and most meaningful words he had ever said, the words that voiced his deepest and most sacred feelings, to be dismissed as part of an act. 

Instead he chose to give Marcus another kiss and then sit closer to him, their shoulders brushing against eachother, and they stayed like that the whole class. 

And, for the first time ever, neither really paid attention to class, the pair occupying their time by writing eachother small notes and comments on the corners of their notebooks and trying not to laugh at what the other wrote. 

Marcus also made small doodles on the corners of Lucifer's notebook and, despite the fact that he kept telling Marcus to stop it- even going as far as “returning the favour” to see how Marcus liked it-, Lucifer found himself almost unable to not smile.

(And he may or may not have ripped those pages off the notebook and tucked them away in his teal box, along with his other most prized possessions, when he got home.)

After the bell rang the two left the class holding hands and, since he had no restrictions then, he smiled when Marcus gave him a “farewell” kiss when they parted ways to head for their respective next classes. 

He was still smiling as he sat next to Maze during his last class for the day and he kept smiling as Maze teased him for being so lovesick. Her teasing never got to him anymore- he knew by then that she didn't mean it, not really- and plus, nothing could get to him in that moment. 

He was so happy and so at peace in that moment that he was certain that not even his dad could ruin it, which really said something. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I love describing how much Lucifer is pining and suffering, I just gotta remind y'all that this is written from Lucifer's POV, so I don't describe Marcus' feelings and I just wanted to mention that he is suffering and pining just as much (or rather just a little more).
> 
> Anyway, happy Valentine's Day!! I'll post when I'll post, I guess!


End file.
